


Linda's Wish

by AlorinDanya (achangeofmagic)



Series: The Thief, the King, and the Son [1]
Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: #IFDChallenge2021, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24125380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achangeofmagic/pseuds/AlorinDanya
Summary: Linda Williams wants a better life, which she thinks she can have without her daughter, Sarah, being in it. But when something goes terribly wrong, the Goblin King does something unexpected.
Series: The Thief, the King, and the Son [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764334
Comments: 14
Kudos: 33





	1. Contemplation and Remembrance

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They are from the brilliant mind of Jim Henson for his film Labyrinth. This is merely my attempt at a prequel (and this is only an excerpt from a very long story I've created). In case you are unfamiliar with the film, I will try to clear a few things up for you. The film tells of Sarah's journey through the Labyrinth when she wishes away her brother and the Goblin King takes him. Well, this is the story of when she herself was wished away by her mother.

By: Alorin Danya

* * *

Linda's Wish

Chapter 1  
 **_Contemplation and Remembrance_ **

Linda Williams sat stiffly on the sofa with her knees curled under her as she waited for her husband to make their daughter go back to sleep.

"Mommy, Mommy!"

Linda repressed the instinct to go to her wailing daughter. Why did Sarah always need her to be the one to tuck her in? She hadn't even wanted Sarah to know she had returned and thought the child would be sound asleep at such a late hour. But the second she and Robert had started arguing Sarah had heard her and called out for her. Now Linda sat in the darkened room wondering why she had come back at all.

She saw Robert stand in the doorway, the light from the hall making his body a shadowed silhouette.

"She's asleep. I told her she was dreaming she heard you. She's had a fever all night. I've done all I can do. Hopefully she'll be out the rest of the night."

Linda sank into the sofa in relief. She saw Robert approach her, could feel his eyes glaring at her as he sat, though his face was in shadow.

"Are you serious about this? You leave for four days with out a word and you are just going to join this troupe on a whim?" He tried to keep his voice down so not to wake Sarah, but he was having a difficult time. "Did they even offer you a part?

"They are a traveling company," She tried to sound convincing, "They are always in need of new actors."

"And you just decided to do this?" Robert was exasperated; "I can't take care of everything here alone. We've always done it fifty/fifty…Who's going to be here for Sarah? I work so much just to pay for…"

Linda huffed; typical for a man to assume the woman should take care of the child. "There are such things as daycares, Robert. Let someone else take care of her."

"You're the one she wants, Linda!"

Linda just shrugged.

"Oh my god," Robert was astonished, "You don't love her."

Linda turned her head, "I didn't say that."

Robert brought his hand to his head, as if trying to push away a headache, "I have been so blind. Have you ever loved her? I know you stopped loving me, but Sarah…"

"She has nothing to do with this."

But that was a lie. The only reason Linda had stayed with him as long as she had was because of the three-year-old. Three years of lost parts and missed opportunities. Sorry Linda, this role is for a virgin-your tummy shows. Sorry Linda, weight gain from pregnancy-maybe after you loose a few pounds and this role will be yours. Oh, too bad you had to stay at home with your sick daughter and miss that rehearsal. Too bad you met motherhood.

"If it's not her Linda, then what is it?"

"I Want My Dreams Back!" Linda shouted; but she quickly backed down at the thought of waking Sarah.

Robert jerked himself from the sofa, "I don't understand you. Nothing you're given is good enough."

She watched as he stormed out of the room and a minute later heard the typewriter keys being beaten as he escaped into his work. Linda wished they didn't have such a small apartment so she wouldn't have to listen to it. She quickly lifted herself and headed to the furthest place away from the noise, the master bedroom.

The closer she got to the room, the more determined she was to leave-pack her things there and then. She hardly glanced at the closed door covered with pink unicorns and blue dragons, hardly even remembered who was asleep behind it. She passed Sarah's room without a second thought.

Once inside the master bedroom, Linda immediately went to her closet, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder as she bent for a suitcase on the floor. She flung it on the bed and unzipped it, leaving it wide open so she could quickly throw things inside as she found them. She didn't care to fold her clothes before packing them as she yanked shirts and skirts off hangers and tossed in underwear from the burrow drawers. She returned to the closet where she kept boxes of old things and she flung them open too. She couldn't take everything they held with her; she had to pick and choose.

But then she found something she vaguely remembered being given to her, and the memory was suddenly very important. She looked wildly at the small red book with its golden letters with the title Labyrinth embossed on the cover as the memory surfaced.

"I'm sorry to hear you have to leave us. So untimely."

The lavishly dressed middle aged woman definitely stood out in her sparkling jewels and her scantly there day dress in the quaint and plain coffee shop. This woman speaking to Linda was her idol. Linda couldn't even believe the actress had approached her at all, but the past three months this star of stage and screen, Ms. Milly Malone, had set her eyes on Linda. However, now the promises the woman had said were coming her way were dashed.

Linda smiled sadly, "My mother always told me I should never have a kid until I was ready. Unfortunately, this wasn't planned." She then threw down the latte she had been holding, causing the liquid inside to slosh out and drip down her wrist. In frustration she tried to wipe it off her blouse but gave up, the thought of loosing her part too devastating, "Damn...I shouldn't have even told Victor. The play's in just two months and..."

"You're not showing…you could just," Milly leaned in and whispered, "get rid of it. It's not like you'd be the first actress to do so."

"No," Linda shook her head, "I've already told my husband. He's looking forward to daddy-hood. I just can't do that to him."

Milly sighed in disappointment, "These are your prime years, and you have such potential. If I had your talent…"

Linda blushed, "I don't think I'm that good."

"Oh, my dear, but you are."

Linda watched curiously as the woman's face scrunched in thought, as if she was having an inner debate about something. Then she snapped her black eyes into Linda's and nodded, as if agreeing with herself about something.

"I…" Milly took a deep breath as if to assure herself she could speak what was on her mind. "I once had a problem similar to yours. I have a solution for you, but you might not believe it." She placed her hand over Linda's, "Will you meet me tonight at Rollin's restaurant? 9 o'clock?"

Linda nodded, her curiosity peeked, "Anything for a chance to be a star. Besides, since Vic kicked me out of the show I have nothing to do."

That night Linda didn't know what to expect as she entered the very quiet and very elegant restaurant. Normally, this place was a vibrant, crowded scene, but now it was eerily vacant, with only herself, Milly and three servers present.

"Where is everyone?" Linda joked, tossing her long chocolate hair over her shoulder as she sat down, "I didn't think this place closed until 11."

Milly almost snapped at her, "This is my favorite restaurant and I didn't want anyone to overhear what I'm about to tell you. It's costing me a lot of money to keep it private, so have a seat."

Linda blinked at her but didn't know how to react at this unusual display. Milly was so refined, so glamorous. Such a retort Linda would have never expected from her.

Milly signaled for the waiter, who had been standing near the kitchen door, to approach and take their order, "I'll have the salmon, no lemon this time. I can't stand that. And make sure the spring peas are sweet and crisp."

The waiter bowed, rolling his eyes in the process at Milly's demands, then faced Linda, who smiled at him and gave a apologetic smile for her friend's rudeness. He seemed relieved for her sympathy and gave her a wink. "And for you, mademoiselle."

Linda gave him a sly smile…he did have a nice face and beautiful green eyes. If only she were single. She cleared her throat, "Just water thank you."

After he left, Milly gazed at Linda with a stern eye, "What do you want out of life, Linda?"

"I want to be a great actress. I want to be loved, like you."

Milly nodded, pulling something out of her black leather handbag and handing it to her. "Then listen closely."

Linda couldn't believe what she was told about the little red book Milly was giving her. Milly said the book sounded so convincing that she did what it said and wished for the goblins to take away her son, and they did. The ruler of the goblins came to her and asked her if she wanted to attempt to retrieve her son by going through the Labyrinth or if she would choose her dreams. She took her dreams and became the star she wanted to be.

"Keep it," Milly said, "call for the goblins to take the child once it is borne. Take your dreams, make your career."

It sounded too good, yet so unbelievable; Linda didn't know what to think, "But Robert, he'll..."

Milly gave Linda's hand a reassuring pat at her look of disbelief, "He won't remember. No one will know the child ever existed. I am the only one in the world who remembers I had a son."

Linda left with the book but couldn't bring herself to believe what her mentor had told her. Linda read the book that night but found it so fantastical that she couldn't fathom it being true. She didn't have the courage to call on the goblins and instead hid the book away. Well, she had the guts to do it but she didn't want to look a fool if she was wrong. It was rather a farfetched notion, wishing to goblins. Like something out of a fairytale. Worse, she hated that she even contemplated such that a talented person as Milly could be so mentally unbalanced, if the tale wasn't true.

But what if it wasn't just a story?

Holding it now, Linda skimmed through the book once more, wondering if there could be any truth in its pages…

"Lyla felt alone, despite everything being given to her. She wanted something more. She wanted her plans of being a famous dancer to become a reality. Yet ever since her marriage and the birth of her child she had become wife and mother, her dreams of dancing were destroyed. But she knew if she called on the goblins they would take her daughter away to the Underground, to the land of the Labyrinth, where the child would be loved by the Goblin King and rule with him.

Lyla knew she could find no love for her little Shanna and felt pity for the child. Knowing all creatures deserved love and that the Goblin King would love Shanna, Lyla called on the goblins and the girl was taken. At the appearance of the Goblin King, Lyla was frightened. He offered her the chance to save her daughter from becoming a goblin or her dreams. Lyla feared for the child then. Goblins were horrid and loathed, smelly creatures that did little other than wreck things. To allow such a thing to happen to a fellow human being would be as if Shanna was being punished, and this was not her fault. Out of a guilty conscious Lyla tried to save her, but she failed and the child remained in the Labyrinth forever. However, with not having Shanna to care for she began practicing her dancing again and made her own dream come true."

The story was not the same story she remembered reading when Milly first gave her the book. Before the woman was a singer, not dancer, and had a son, an adolescent son at that. Milly had told her that the book was true, that the Labyrinth did exist and the goblins had come for her son. Maybe the book changed whenever anyone needed it? Linda had no way of knowing. All she knew was that her heart beat hard at thinking how similar the woman in the book's life was to her own. Although Linda might not have read the book in three years, she never forgot what happened in the story. How many times had Linda herself thought back to the idea of making the wish or threatened Sarah that she would have the goblins take her if she misbehaved? Linda realized some part of her must have believed in the story all along.

But now Linda didn't care if it were real or not. She only knew that she wanted it to be. To have no body know of Sarah, to be rid of the child -there would be no reason for her to stay with Robert, nothing to stop her from getting what she wanted out of life. To have her dreams, that is what she wanted, to be like Milly, to be the best.

Linda noticed that as she sat on the bed, her eyes were staring at Sarah's closed door in the hallway. She slowly got up to walk to it. With her heart beating quicker, she touched the doorknob but hesitated, suddenly uncertain of what she was doing. At hearing the ever constant clicking of Robert's typewriter, however, she opened Sarah's door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have permission from imaginarium to post the sketch that was inspired by this story.


	2. What's Said Is Said

The night-light always on when Sarah slept gave the room a soft orange glow as Linda stepped inside. She felt a slight chill in the room and at first thought it was from her nerves, but then she noticed the curtains to the single window billowed from the night breeze. The crickets sang outside; Sarah liked the sound and each night wouldn't let the window be closed so she could hear them. But the crickets bothered Linda and rubbed her nerves even more as she stood over her sleeping daughter.

Sarah looked hot, her forehead moist from a fever and tiny pieces of her hair, having fallen out of her pig tails, were clinging to her damp cheeks. Linda stifled a gasp when Sarah moaned in her sleep. That was something else about the child; talking in her sleep, waking everyone up at all hours thinking something was wrong when she had only been dreaming. But it was expected for the child to be comforted; she was supposed to be pampered and cared for because she was too little to do anything for herself. Linda hated that the responsibility of Sarah's care always fell on her. Why did she have to be the one to sacrifice what she wanted because her husband was too weak to tell his boss he was doing too much work? Why was she the one who had to put aside her wants for the needs of Sarah? Maybe she should have listened to Milly those years ago. If Sarah wouldn't have been borne, Linda could have done so much more in her life.

"I wish the goblins would come and take you out of my life so I can live my dreams for once."

The electricity went out in Sarah's room at that moment. Linda at first thought it was possibly caused by a limb knocking down a power line from the sudden rush of wind from outside. But a mere power outage wouldn't have caused her heart to pound like it was presently doing. No. She realized it was something more when from Sarah's bed there came strange noises like a dozen snorting voices, something Sarah couldn't sound like no matter how sick she got. Then Linda heard things being moved around her in the pitch-black room and she jumped as something brushed passed her legs. But then it all suddenly stopped and the power returned.

"That was not a nice thing to say."

Linda gasped as she heard the rich, accented voice and saw a strange but hauntingly attractive man standing in the room. But his gaze was not kind and it frightened her, "Who are you? How did you get in here?" Taking a timid step back with each word, she stuttered, "I'll call my husband."

"I'm sure he'd enjoy seeing what you've done." He said, taking a step around Sarah's bed.

Looking around for other means to protect herself, Linda's eyes flashed to her daughter's bed and she gasped when she didn't see the child. She frantically looked around the room, but Sarah wasn't there. "Oh god. What have you done with...?"

"You called my minions, so they took her." He took a threatening step towards her.

Realization that the story was true struck her. "You're the Goblin King…but you aren't a goblin."

This king grinned a feral grin, though his mismatched eyes still held their fury. "Very observant of you. I am Fae, though I rule those rancid creatures. And now your daughter will become one of them, unless you want to save her."

Linda's mind suddenly went blank; she couldn't decide what to do. "I…I don't know."

The Goblin King placed his hands on his hips, his black cloak billowing in the breeze, like the curtains, "Then, I'll give you a choice. If you find your daughter worthy enough to be saved from such a detestable existence, then you may attempt to reach her. I will give you thirteen hours to solve my Labyrinth and reach the castle where you will find your daughter. If, however, you decide you don't want her, all you have to do is cease trying."

Linda suddenly found herself on a sandy hill overlooking a large stone maze, the king's castle looming what seemed like miles away.

"I have to go through that?" Linda asked, exasperated.

The Goblin King produced a crystal ball in his fingers, gliding it across his hands as he spoke, "You can either go through it to regain your daughter or you can take this."

He stopped moving the crystal and held it out to her. It looked the same as any crystal ball she'd ever seen, but maybe it wasn't that at all. "What is it?"

"Your dreams." He cocked his head, "That is why you wished Sarah away-isn't it?"

Linda gasped, "You know her name."

"As well as I know you are Linda."

"How?"

"Magic. The second you began the wish, the magic told me all about your pathetic attempts to improve your career." He stood close to her and gazed at her with false sympathy, "Tell me, did little Sarah interfere with your plans?"

Guilt flowed through Linda's veins, but also the determination to prove him wrong. Who was he to judge her? She glanced once again at the maze before boldly turning her eyes to his, "I'll get Sarah back, you'll see. Just show me where to get started."

With a look of disgust, he pointed to a clock with thirteen Roman Numerals that seemingly had appeared out of nowhere, "You have thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth. Find your own way in."

No instructions. No further mockery. The Goblin King was gone, having faded away right in front of her.

"Hey," She shouted, "Wait a minute. That's not fair. How am I supposed to get in!"

Linda huffed and stood gawking at the maze, looking at it not so bravely as she had a moment before. Glancing at it now, she thought it too immense to travel in only half a day. She searched for any entrance to the fortified walls but saw nothing resembling a gate or a door. But she did see a small and stubby figure walking outside the wall.

"Hey! Hello?" Linda started yelling as she ran up to the little man.

He turned out to be an ancient dwarf; his leather vest was surprisingly decorative and his white hair stuck out on all sides under his leather cap. He seemed to be gardening, spraying the weeds along the stone wall with some strange liquid that made the dragonfly looking bugs fall twitching to the ground. The dwarf seemed pleased with each kill as he kicked dirt over the little corpses every time.

"Interesting job you have there," Linda commented to get his attention.

"I hate fairies," he grumbled.

"Fairies?" She looked at the little mounds of dirt. Sure enough, there were two hands, two feet and golden hair to each one. She knew fairies to be good creatures and he was killing them, "You're horrible!"

"No. I'm Hoggle," His voice was irritated as if he'd said it a thousand times.

"What'd fairies do to you, huh? Why kill them?"

"It's what I was told to do." He hobbled on, his eyes searching the scarce foliage for the winged creatures. "Things are a menace, tearing up all the plants."

Linda looked at the vines climbing up the stone walls more closely. Sure enough, they looked as though they should have been thriving but instead all the leaves had been pulled off and only the flowers remained. "Even so, isn't every life precious?"

Hoggle laughed lowly, "You're one to talk. Wishin' your baby away. You'd better get inside if you're gonna save 'um."

After looking up and down the length of the endless wall, Linda huffed, "I don't see any doors. How do you get inside the Labyrinth?"

"You gets in there." Hoggle pointed to a portion of the wall in which doors were hidden and they opened out towards them.

Linda stepped inside, only to find a path that seemed to never end, left or right. She turned to ask the dwarf which way she should go but the doors were already shut behind her. She chose to go left, but after walking five minutes down the infinitely straight path, she began to get discouraged. There were no turns, so how in the world could this be a maze? Frustrated, she moved to lean her back against the wall to think, but it wasn't there. She stumbled to the ground, scraping the palms of her hands on the gravel. Linda groaned as she stood up, brushing the dust off her jeans and adjusted her V-neck shirt, despite the stinging in her raw hands. Once she glanced up, she noticed she was in a new path. She took a few steps to the old path, making sure she wasn't seeing things. Sure enough she saw the wall dividing the two paths and quickly moved on her way down this new sight of well-carved and polished stone.


	3. All That Duty Requires

Jareth, the King of the Goblins, returned to his throne room, furious with this Williams woman. He shouldn't even allow her to try to reach her daughter; she obviously didn't deserve her and didn't want her. Yet she had chosen to try and save her. So be it. She'd probably give up anyway, then he'd have another creature to add to his minions.

No matter how many times he had taken a child into his kingdom, he had to remind himself there was always the possibility of them being won back. More often than not, he desired for them to return to their Earthly lives, but that is not what the purpose of the Labyrinth. And it was the Labyrinth, not himself, who decided who should stay and who could go.

The Labyrinth had chosen to allow this pompous woman to attempt to retrieve her child. It baffled Jareth. The child would certainly have a better life as a goblin; even a life as a slave would be better than living with a mother who was so unloving. But just as he governed the Labyrinth, it had as much control over him. No matter his judgment, the Labyrinth was a very powerful being and it was the Labyrinth who decided the final outcome of each life that entered its walls. Jareth found this to be the only obstacle when controlling the maze. He found it a relief sometimes, that should the outcome not be optimistic for the human, at least the blame could not be pinned on him.

Jareth rolled his eyes at thinking of his other required duty. Not only must he monitor the progress of those who traversed his Labyrinth, but he also had to ease the minds of the other Fae rulers and assure them the humans would not travel beyond the boundaries of the maze.

He threw himself down on his throne and brought his gloved hand to his nose, rubbing the top of it as he tried to drown the noise of the goblins out of his head. He wasn't prepared yet with what to say to the Empress of the Underground. Every time he spoke with the insufferable woman she would say something that would drive him insane, yet he could not say anything against one who had power even over him. Hopefully he would be able to tell her the humans would be gone in thirteen hours and she would simply accept it; but he knew that would never happen.

As Jareth reclined on his throne, he took a moment to conjure a crystal and rolled it between his fingers, deep in thought. Then the Goblin King sat up suddenly and looked into crystal within his gloved hands. He yelled for the goblins to shut up before using the crystal to call upon Empress Malora. It was a moment before she responded, her regal image appearing within the crystal's depths.

"My lady, another human fool has entered my kingdom to retrieve her wished away child."

"Prompt, as always, Jareth. It's been quite some time since one was actually wished to you." The woman's voice was soft and motherly, though the glint in her eye was far from it. The smile Malora had held at her greeting suddenly faded as she changed subjects, "It just proves the books are still in use. Are these humans a threat?"

Jareth grinned at her forwardness but suppressed a laugh. To laugh at the Empress of the Underground for merely wanting to protect her realm would be out of line. She didn't know humans as well as he did and wouldn't understand that their race did not care for magic as much as she believed.

"No, my lady. The mother is too set with her life on Earth to care about our world, and the child is too young to harm us. She'll be a goblin soon enough."

"I trust you will make sure that happens...unless you believe the mother will retrieve the child."

Jareth laughed out loud at this, "I highly doubt that will happen, your majesty."

Malora looked at him inquisitively, "Do you believe the child could be of service to us? It's been a while since we've had new a human slave, and King Troy has been asking..."

"No, Malora." Jareth snapped in anger, "I will never give a girl to him again with what he does to them. Slaves are slaves, but he goes too far."

Fury flowed out of the Empress's eyes, "Are you suggesting humans be treated as equals?"

"No, but such abuse..."

"Is what their kind deserves!" Malora yelled but then regained her composure, "You know their history in our world and all they have done. They killed the seven queens."

"Five." Jareth corrected her.

Malora smirked at him for the interruption. "That's right, your mother was already dead by that time and your kingdom not created. Pointless details. We must break the humans or they will overrun us, rule us. They are not worthy of being over us, they don't even have natural magic. You see what magic makes them-goblins. Putrid, disgusting creatures. Does one human form out shine the other? Are they not the same creature? Do they not have the same soul?"

"Yes." Jareth did not feel like arguing with her. She had many valid points, but also much she was wrong about.

"I do agree that at times Troy has been wrong in his...methods, but as you said, slaves are slaves. Slaves can be controlled, free humans, if they find magic, cannot...We cannot allow the humans to destroy us again."

"I know."

"Then if you know," Malora stated, "I expect you'll make sure neither of them remain as they are. If both leave, so be it, but if one should remain, make sure she is a goblin before the day is over or give her as a slave."

Jareth bowed his head to the Empress out of courtesy before he dissolved the crystal.

Jareth had been raised on the evils of humanity, how the human race came to the Underground before the Labyrinth was created around the gate between the two worlds. With nothing to stop humans from entering the Fae world, they spread throughout the kingdoms undetected and mated with the Fae. But the children of such unions had unpredictable magic...that is how the Fae discovered what humans were. Humans looked the same as Fae, but they held no magic.

The Fae rulers had no idea how many humans had entered their lands, but they knew they had to be stopped; the magic needed to be purified again. The kings, in their frustration, believed the humans were intentionally polluting their bloodlines. They didn't go as far as kill the humans; they were useful after all. The rulers just didn't want there being so many that they couldn't be controlled.

So the humans were placed in confinement until the rulers could figure out what to do with them. The humans certainly couldn't be allowed to roam free and contaminate the magic further. Yet they couldn't be sent back through the gate...no one knew how to open it up to the human world without someone from the other side willing it. Since the humans who entered were the unwanted and forgotten, no one from Earth would try to open it.

The kings quickly found a use for them. Why waste magic on trifle things such as cooking and cleaning, plowing and herding when the humans could do it for them? Some humans who had magic by either gaining it or being born as a half-blood weren't exempt; no matter if their Fae parent desired their child to be free, the child could be enslaved depending in which kingdom they were born. And such slaves had the worst lot. Because of their magic they never aged past their prime and never died from disease. For them it was an eternity of torment.

One human, Rourke, had come to the Underground as an older man. He had years of experience on Earth at a time when humans practiced magic through minerals and herbs and believed in godlike spirits. Such magic and faith the Fae could not fight and many Fae were killed, including all the Fae queens at the time. The leader of the human rebellion was finally assassinated, making the knowledge of such Earthly magic forgotten.

To insure such knowledge was never brought over from the human world again, the kings tried to close the gateway between the two worlds, but it could not be done. The gateway was older than time with a natural magic so strong, all the Fae rulers' magic combined could not destroy it.

It was known that the magic the gate held was powerful enough to destroy the humans-not so much as to kill their kind, but enough to no longer leave them a threat to the Fae. If the humans stayed near the gate for longer than half a day, they would mutate into small, wrinkly creatures―goblins-and lost all abilities of comprehensible human thought. This is exactly what the Fae wanted; for no more humans to spread into the Underground.

With humans already enslaved, the kings searched for the limits of the gate's magic. Humans were placed at various distances from the known origin of the gate and monitored on how long it took for the magic to change them. Wherever a goblin was formed, an obelisk was placed. Thus the boundary of the magic was discovered.  
Once mapped, the rulers debated their best course of action. Merely putting up a wall would not be enough to stop anyone from finding a way over. They came up with an ingenious idea to put up obstacles to keep the humans within the boundaries as long as possible. So a great maze was built and a fortress was erected around the gate itself, to hold an army if needed to prevent a human evasion. But it was difficult to appoint a king over this land. There would be no trade, no profit, nothing to benefit anyone ruling this land. It didn't matter anyway. The magic didn't want to be ruled.

The Fae never realized the magic of the gate had a soul and could think for itself. They hadn't even fathomed how far the gate's power could extend into the Underground and how powerless they would be against it. Now, with the magic being one with the Labyrinth, the Fae could see that the gateway wasn't stationary. To be sure, it had a definite center that never wavered, but the magic itself ebbed and flowed like the sea or arms of magic that could stretch out like the pseudo limbs of an amoeba. It went wherever it wanted to go, destroying what ever it came into contact with that got in the way. Thankfully, it did have its limits. Once the kings were absolutely certain the Labyrinth had touched every piece of the Underground it could possibly reach, they made strict orders for no one to inhabit such areas, for they never knew when the Labyrinth would come or go.

So, with the creation of the maze backfiring on them, the Fae kings did the only thing they could; they stayed away and set up watch on the boundaries edges―their only means of defense at keeping humans from entering the Underground if they ever did escape the Labyrinth.

The only humans the Labyrinth had ever allowed into the Underground were those unwanted or unloved by either themselves or their kin. The gate saw itself as their redeemer and protector and allowed them into the Underground to find a better life than could be found on Earth. The gate knew of the human's suffering at the hands of the Fae, but it also knew of the human rebellion and the murder of the queens.

It made a choice, to separate the two worlds completely until it deemed both sides able to be accepting of the other. The gate fused itself with the maze covering it, became one with the labyrinth. It did not allow one Fae to enter its walls nor one human to escape it-unless it deemed them worthy enough to do so.

Jareth had been one of exception in the Labyrinth's eye. He wasn't fully Fae and he wasn't human. He had been unwanted by his murderous stepmother. Jareth was a young prince when his father died. With him being the oldest son, it should have naturally been expected for him to inherit his father's kingdom. But, that was not to be the case. Jareth discovered that his mother, the woman he'd loved for all his years, was not his real mother at all. She disowned him, telling him he was borne of a half human who had died when he was a small boy trying to give his father another child. Only with this cruel reminder did Jareth remember there had been another mother in his life. His stepmother could have cared less if he held more magic in him than her own flesh and blood son ever would. She sold him as a human slave. When he was finally able to escape, he ran as far away from his torment as he could. He found himself in within the walls of the Labyrinth―a land no Fae had entered since its creation.

In the Labyrinth, the unwanted were protected and the soul of the magic took pity on Jareth. He learned to survive and live in the wilderness of the maze before he ever discovered the Labyrinth would listen to him and do his bidding if he only asked. Over years, over decades, Jareth created a civilization for the goblins, merely from observing that they lived quite civilly on their own, they just had no organization to it. He did so with no thought of ruling them; that only came once the outside kingdoms saw a change in the Labyrinth. It had stopped spreading and they wanted Jareth to keep it that way.

Jareth was convinced over time by the Council that he needed to not only keep the humans who wandered through the gateway inside the Labyrinth, he needed to control the Labyrinth personally; make its will his own. One might ask why the rulers didn't connect to the maze themselves when the Labyrinth was first created, but the answer is a sadly simple one; no one was brave enough or willing to sacrifice their magic in case something went wrong. But Jareth had nothing to loose, so they helped him with what spells he needed to do and once complete, the Labyrinth was his slave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was very difficult for me to develop a coherent history for the Labyrinth and the Underground. Creating Jareth's personal history is just ARG! "But that's the way it is" with prequels, I guess. If interested in the sequel, please read "The Thief, the King, and the Son" Blessings and Thanks bunches.


	4. Dangerous Touch

Jareth sat with a deep scowl upon his brow. The stories of the human rebellion and the enslavement of all humans had never made sense to him-if they had then logically he shouldn't be alive. His mother was half human yet had powerfully stable magic for one only half Fae. She was borne near the time the Labyrinth was created, and it was said that all borne of humans were considered as human, unable to inherit equally with the Fae; yet she was never removed from her Fae father, as was said happened to most half-breeds, nor was she prevented from marrying a Fae king.

Of the so-called human uprising, it had been led by only a small number of humans. Yes, they had done horrible things under their cunning leader, but they had no power once he was eliminated. It was unfortunate that humans were considered evil once the ordeal was over. Not all humans felt that the Fae were oppressive, for not all humans had been forced into slavery. Only certain kingdoms chose to make humans slaves and those that did usually took only humans who appeared to have a desire for magic. The rest were allowed to lead the non-magical lives they would have held in their home world.

Jareth wondered what more he hadn't been told for humans to be feared so much by the Empress. There was certainly nothing threatening about the child presently lying in the center of his throne room.

He stood up, wondering what he should do with her. If he kept her, she'd only be another mindless body to crowd his kingdom, yet should he give her to some other king as a slave, who knew what fate would befall her then? Better to let her live as a happy imbecile than to die in bondage. The most difficult task for Jareth should he decide to let her live as a goblin was to give her a new name.

Some goblins retained the memories of their human lives. Though it wasn't often that the memories would resurface, if it did happen, the goblin could go insane or fall into a stupored depression from the knowledge of what they had become. Thus the goblins were persuaded to forget about their old lives. It was well known that goblins have a hard time thinking for themselves, so the sooner they were told how to think, the sooner they could be made to forget Earth and humanity. So Jareth assigned them odd jobs to do for the rest of their existence and gave them new names-to keep their human name would have been a cruel way to remind them of who they once were.

Jareth paced the room, trying to think of a new name for this child, but nothing came to mind. He wondered if getting a better look at her would help. With heavy steps he walked to the sleeping child who lay in the pit in the middle of the throne room. Despite all the commotion the goblins were making, she still was in a deep sleep. Her cheeks were flushed and her bright pink pajamas enhanced the redness of her face. She didn't look at all well.

The goblins weren't used to those wished away, those unwanted like them, not playing with them. One goblin came up to the child and tried to shake her awake, but it didn't work. He lifted his warty nose to his king in confusion as to why she was so dormant. Jareth ordered him to get away from her, in just as much confusion as his subject. Despite having been touched the child still slept when something so violent should have woken her.

Jareth crouched down to the girl, taking off his gloves before feeling this little one's forehead for a sense of her illness, hoping that he could keep the magic from his touch. He knew his touch was dangerous and harmed those without magic because the magic the Labyrinth had bestowed him was so strongly a part of him; this is why he isolated his skin by covering it. He could control the magic somewhat when he needed to. With dormant skin he could feel she was burning up. He hated her mother even more. Instead of caring for her sick child she ignored her and allowed her to be so ill. An audition was not more important than a child's well-being. He would not let one he would soon have control over be neglected. It would be cruel if he ruled with such ignorance.

He gathered the child's limp body into his arms and sat on the floor with her in his lap, right in the middle of the throne room. The goblins curiously watched with almost a hushed silence―the king was doing something new. Jareth placed the child's back against his chest and put his right hand over her heart, his left on her damp forehead. He gave her the tiniest amount of magic to enhance her own body's healing abilities. She moaned and shifted a little with the changes occurring in her. Jareth's bare hands felt her temperature lower and he saw her face lighten to a soft pink color. He removed his hand from her head and held her by the sleeve as she began to whimper herself awake.

When Sarah woke, she looked around the room with wide eyes, fright glowing in them at not knowing where she was. The goblins cheered and it scared her young mind even more at seeing these hideous, smelly creatures, most twice her size. She tried to move and run away but found that strong hands held her. She turned to see if she was safe, if this person would save her from the monsters. At seeing a man holding her she clung to him for protection; he was not a monster, even if a stranger.

挿Perfect, she'll never let me go.' Jareth thought after his first attempt at removing her from him, but she held to him even tighter, her head so strong against his neck he nearly gagged at the pressure. He had to show her that goblins weren't creatures to fear. She had to be comfortable with them; he had work to do and needed them to watch her. He grabbed hold of her little arms and wrapped his fingers around each of them, pulling her body off of him and making her stand. Her big eyes now looked at him in fear at realizing she didn't know who he was.

"Where's daddy?" her tiny voice chimed.

"Your father is at your home."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Jareth." He smiled.

Her grey green eyes turned from him and swept the room doubtfully. "Jarwith…I don't like it here."

"And why not?"

She looked around at the noisy creatures, then whispered, looking into his eyes, "Monsters."

"They aren't monsters. They're goblins."

The child gasped and her eyes went even wider, if that were possible. "Mommy said goblins would take me away."

"She told you?" Jareth scrunched his brow, disgusted at how Linda could have said such a horrid thing to the child.

She whimpered as she nodded, "I don't want to be a goblin."

"Don't be afraid. They may be obnoxious, but they will not harm you." Jareth smiled and he picked her up as he rose, taking her closer to the goblins.

The closer they got, however, the harder she grabbed him by the neck and pressed her body into him, squealing to get away from them. She was unknowingly hurting him and testing his patience. He wasn't necessarily angry at her but at whoever had taught her such fear. He backed up, trying to show her they were getting away from the creatures, but he tripped over a few of them in the process, causing him to stumble to his knees. Still the child fussed. That was enough.

"Sarah, stop this!" Jareth shouted as he ripped the child's hands from around him with his own. Her little fingers clasped to his. She stared at him for a moment, looking him straight in the eyes before her eyes glazed over. Her head rolled back and her body began to violently convulse. His mind raced with what could be wrong with her. Then he noticed she wasn't the only thing quaking.

The whole throne room was moving, seemingly pulling itself apart. Pieces of the ceiling crashed to the ground while a crack grew on the throne room floor, causing sections to crumble and the goblins frantically ran around not knowing how to get away. Jareth realized that something coming from the child was making the Labyrinth change but he didn't know how. Then he looked down and saw that her hands were still holding his own―his bare hands. It was his magic causing the change by invading her little body.

Jareth instantly yanked his hands away from her and lay her on the floor. No longer touching him, her body calmed and the room became still. The goblins quickly lost their fear of what just happened and inched their way closer to Sarah. Jareth watched as ten goblins surrounded her, hesitantly poking and prodding her to get up. She didn't react at all. The child's eyes stared straight at the ceiling. Jareth swore if he hadn't have seen her small chest rise and fall, he would have thought her dead.

"What have I done?" He whispered as he looked at his bare hands.

He had never lost control before, always paying attention to what he touched and how. Jareth wondered at what he was feeling, something foreign. It was as if he hated himself for hurting her and he tried to suppress it. But he had harmed her and he didn't know how to fix it. He immediately made gloves reappear on his hands but was still hesitant to touch her to see what damage he had caused. He ordered the goblins away from her and they noisily scattered.

However, before he could even reach out to heal the girl the room began to shake again, as did her body. By some unseen magic, everything in the room moved back into place and the cracks in the stones healed themselves. Then both Labyrinth and girl were again still.

Sarah blinked and sat up, her frightened face showing she retained the knowledge that she was in a strange place. Jareth breathed out in relief and reached for the child, but now she was afraid of him for hurting her. She got up and ran to hide behind a goblin that was bigger than her for protection. Jareth called to her, still wanting to see if she was injured, but she refused him.

"Fine then." He stormed to his throne and produced a crystal. Now that the child was well he could focus on Linda. "Wonder what your mother will say when I tell her your new name. Quake shall suit you nicely."


	5. A Good Time

Linda was relieved to have finally found a change of scenery. It seemed like she'd been walking for hours on the paths that were just walls of stone. Now the maze looked similar, but at least these walls were of finely trimmed bushes, and instead of strange eyed lichen growing out of every nook and cranny, tall stone obelisks were scattered randomly along the path. Linda hoped the change meant she was at least making some progress and wasn't going completely in circles. And if there were any more earthquakes, she wouldn't have to be as afraid of falling debris. She was quite certain leaves didn't hurt as much as flying rocks and she could just stay clear of the obelisks if she felt another quake coming. She definitely couldn't retrieve Sarah if she was trapped or crushed under stones.

Just thinking of how she was putting herself in danger made her rethink her situation. Was Sarah worth the risk? All the kid had ever done was whine for her attention. Even if she was able to get her daughter back, that wouldn't change. Sarah would still want to be with her. Robert would still expect her to sacrifice her time. Hadn't Milly said she had taken the offer of her dreams and no one remembered that she had a son? Linda wondered if she could do the same if she took...No, she couldn't risk Sarah not being forgotten. Milly had taken her dreams straight off; Linda chose to try to get Sarah back.

Linda laughed out loud as she shook her head at herself, thinking that once again, she had given something up for Sarah's sake.

"I didn't realize my Labyrinth was so amusing."

Linda spun around to find the Goblin King leaning against the nearest obelisk.

She frowned at him, "It isn't amusing. I've been going for hours and gotten no where."

"Yes," Jareth grinned with satisfaction. "Your progress has been rather pathetic."

Linda hated this man's constant mockery of her, but she wasn't appalled by it. In fact, it intrigued her. There was something about his intimidating presence that made her heart beat faster, something Robert never did. She didn't know when she'd stood before such beauty or danger...and it gave her a fleeting idea.

A wicked grin crept onto her lips as she slyly neared the king, "Couldn't you, maybe, give me some slack? Head me down the right direction?"

Jareth raised an eyebrow at her bold request and flashed her a sly smile, "And why should I do that?"

"Because I," Linda said as she stepped into him, "can make it worth your while."

The mocking grin returned to the king's lips as he eyed her closeness before flashing his eyes back to hers, "What could you possibly offer me?"

Linda ran her hands over the cloth on his chest, "You're a man, I'm a woman..."

"And you propose we come to an arrangement?" Jareth purred, languidly sliding a gloved hand along her arm.

"Just name the terms." The glint in his eye hinted that her bait was taking, so to secure the deal, she brushed her fingers along he edge of his breeches, "You'll find I'm very willing."

The king shoved her away, causing her to fall face first into a bush. "You'll go through it like everyone else." He laughed at her undignified position.

Linda chided herself for being so foolish, "I should have figured you were a tough cookie to crack." She pushed herself up off the ground and brushed herself off, "Well, I'd better get going."

But the Goblin King was already gone. Linda found herself surrounded on all sides by bushes.

"This is rich," Linda huffed, then shouted to the air, "You bastard! What are you afraid of? A good time?"

"We'll show you a good time." Came a scratchy voice from the other side of the foliage.

Linda yelped as she was bit on her shoulder by something and she screamed when she saw the scariest little creature she'd ever seen. Whatever it was had long, sharp teeth and it wasn't alone. There were four other hairless rodent creatures clinging to sticks being forced through the bushes to attack her. Linda yipped every time that one bit her. She was able to knock a creature off its stick, but that did her no good for as soon as it hit the ground, it found her foot and started climbing up her leg. That was pure terror for Linda and she ran full force through the bushes and kept on pushing through the leaves until she exited to open air. With a shriek at seeing that the tiny bald creature was still on her leg, she grabbed it and threw it as far away as she could. But she couldn't relax yet. There were five goblin guards, each with a spiky, oversized helmet headed straight towards her― more hairless rodents clinging on sticks in their hands.

Linda looked around for a means of escape but the only possible place she could go was through a stone archway behind the goblin guards. She decided it was either stay and be nipped to death by rodents or chance a sprint past the guards and hope that with her larger size she could force her way past them and run faster than they could follow. Taking a deep breath, she charged them with a shout, which seemed to have taken them aback for they stopped in their tracks and merely stared at her as she raced by.

Linda didn't stop until she felt as though she couldn't go any further. A pain had developed in her side and she leaned against a statue of what looked like a toy soldier as she held her hands to her knees, trying to catch her breath. Once composed, Linda figured she had better see where she had taken herself, hopefully closer to the castle. She nearly moaned when she looked up and saw only more walls, but this time a combination of stone and bush.

"This place could make a person claustrophobic." She breathed to the air before pushing off the statue and walking on again.

There came a strange tinkling noise through the air. The sound was vaguely familiar, making Linda curious as to where it was coming from and what could be making it. Her feet followed her ears until she came to what seemed to be some type of courtyard. There were many large urns on pedestals and in the center, across from a throne of stone books, was a sun dial which let Linda know she had nine hours left. She went over to the throne and sat down, closing her eyes to see if she could hear where that strange noise was coming from. After being sure it was coming from somewhere behind and to her left, Linda turned and glimpsed the castle in the distance. She realized the sound she had been hearing, one she was familiar with but didn't hear very often, was her daughter's laughter.


	6. Little Girl Lost

Jareth stepped to the window overlooking his kingdom, angered from the Williams woman's advances towards him. The woman was undeniably beautiful in appearance, but she had so many counts against her-married, career driven, selfish, negligent mother-she wasn't even worth a second thought. Linda wasn't the first to try to charm their way to his castle, and she probably wouldn't be the last. He might have even chosen to have a little fling with her had he not already gotten a taste of her heart through the words of her daughter. Linda was cruel, cruel enough to threaten her child when one so young couldn't possibly have done anything to be given such hateful words. To spend time with her would be like spending time with a snake ready to strike; why waste his heart on such poison.

He could still have a little fun with her.

He watched through his crystal and laughed as his goblin soldiers tormented the woman. Her shrieks could been heard even over the noise in the throne room. Jareth smiled with satisfaction as he watched her attempts to flee. Eventually, Mrs. Williams got away from his men. He'd let her rest a while until he could come up with something else to throw at her.

Jareth heard the child giggle from somewhere within his throne room, but he couldn't see her. He would have thought something as bright as her pink footy pajamas would not have gotten lost against the grey stones of the room, but where ever he looked, all he could see were obnoxious goblins stumbling or frolicking about. He didn't care much, though. She didn't want him near her anyway.

Walking to his throne, Jareth tripped on something, a stuffed toy of some sort. He raised his eyes to the ceiling, giving a slight rumble in this throat before snapping his eyes to those surrounding him.

"Who's is this?" He held up the toy for their inspection.

The goblins, who had been acutely attentive at his initial inquiry, suddenly ignored him, going back to what they were doing and moving away. They could tell from his tone, who ever owned whatever had disturbed his majesty could get punished. Better they all pretend they didn't know what he was talking about then to get thrown in the Bog just for looking at him.

Jareth sighed roughly and threw the object to the ground. He'd keep an eye on it; the owner would eventually go for it, and then he could remind them strongly that their personal items were not to be lying around HIS throne room. Throwing himself down on his throne wasn't always the best thing he found himself doing since it had no cushions and wasn't a comfortable shape, but the pain never stopped him. Sometimes he liked it. It was the only thing that reminded him he was alive, that he wouldn't have to bare such an existence for eternity; he was more vulnerable to death thanks to his human side.

He was glad that few children had been wished to him over the recent decades. For one thing, he definitely didn't need any more goblins running around, and another, the only other option he had to do with unwanted children was to give them to the other kings, which he hardly agreed with. The fewer who entered his kingdom, the less he had the pressure of making life altering decisions.

A sound tickled Jareth's ears over the chatter of the goblins, a sound that he heard nearly every time one was wished to him. It annoyed him to no end. The child was crying. But it didn't sound like the normal crying of other children he'd heard who had merely cried in confusion of their unusual surroundings. The child, were ever she was, was quite frightened and she wasn't in the throne room.

"Quiet!" Jareth shouted to the goblins so loudly that they ceased their prattle so much that one could hear an egg drop.

He listened for where the child had gone and found her voice to be echoing from the room he liked to deem his thinking room. The room had no name, for there was none like it. It was the true center of the Labyrinth, its heart and where the gateway was physically, though invisibly, located. The room itself was created around the gateway between worlds with stairs that led nowhere, false archways, and misleading doors so that if the humans passed through, they would have a very difficult time finding their way out.

It served its purpose well. Even now the child wandered within it, crying for she had lost her way. Jareth was intrigued as he watched her. Despite being terrified, she was still trying to find her own way out, not just waiting for somebody to come and find her. That didn't make her any less eager to get to him once she noticed he had come. She stopped crying a moment, her eyes searching for a way to get to the man that was above her. Even though her eyes showed that it was too complex for her to figure out, her feet started to take her faster. She crawled up the stairs, which were too tall for her little legs to walk over, but that didn't stop her speed.

At first, her determination was amusing to watch. She kept making wrong decisions and backtracking over the same set of stairs. But the thing is, she kept going. She began to move too quickly for even her own body to handle; and that's when Jareth became frightened for her. Rarely did his heart ever jump within his chest, but the first time she tumbled to the ground, worry struck him. Yet she got right back up and trotted on. She didn't know to be afraid, that if she lost contact with the floor, all sense of gravity would be lost to her and she would fall to the wall/floor/stairway, whatever was below her on the other side. He had to get to her before she hurt herself.

Jareth sighed in exasperation and he made his way to the child. Once he reached her, she clung to his leg, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I wanna go home." She whined into his pant leg.

"That may or may not happen."

He bent over and lifted her to his side. She seemed to have lost her fear of him. She just stared at him as he carried her out of the proper door and back to his throne room, where he sat her on the floor in the pit.

"You are not to leave this room again. Do you understand?" He tried to not to use a tone that might frighten her, but he wanted her to be clear on what was expected.

The child looked up at him with her big grey green eyes and nodded, "Uh huh."

Jareth noticed her face scrunch up and she huffed as she looked to the goblins around her. What could she be curious about?

"Are there toys?" Her tiny voice finally asked.

He bent down to her and smiled, "If you can find something that amuses you…as long as you remain in this room, you can play with it."

Sarah smiled as she got up and ran to find something.

Jareth grinned at her enthusiasm; so like a child to be easily joyful from the simplest allowances. She wasn't going to find much in this room―maybe a bauble here, a trinket there―but certainly nothing a child could play with. He returned to his throne and watched her for a moment as she continued her quest, then he reclined, as comfortably as possible, back into his throne.

Jareth closed his eyes and leaned his head back; what to do with this child, his Quake. She most likely would turn out to be one of the more intelligent goblins; however, with what she already knew, she might become insane. He didn't exactly like what he had to do with the unstable ones; he once tried to lock them away in the dungeons, but no chain could hold them. The only resort he had was to throw them into an oubliette, where generally he would find them dead by various means of self-mutilation. Something in him couldn't bear to see this child doing that to herself. Nor could he see her beaten into servitude as a slave. The Labyrinth was right, she had to return to her world and be saved from the tortures of his.

There was only one person he knew of to help him make up his mind. Crystal in hand, he searched for his wise man. The man wasn't in his normal abode; the Williams woman was resting there at the moment. Jareth hated having to search for his subjects when he needed them. He was surprised to find the man in the forest conversing with the huge orange mountain of fur known as Ludo.

"Solon."

Through the crystal, Jareth saw the long necked bird creature that resided on the Wiseman's head quickly jerk its head about to see where exactly the voice had come from, his owner's head turning up to the voice after a moment.

"Huh?" the old man droned.

"It's 'da king." the bird chirped.

"Ah..His Majesty." he slowly confirmed, raising his glasses to rest on the top of his head.

"Yes, Solon, I need a word with you."

"Ah, well...the lesson..."

The bird rolled it's eyes, "You were getting no wherre with that yeti. Can't even say his own name."

Ludo growled slightly at the bird. "Ludo can."

"Quiet, both of you! Your majesty, what can I do for you?" Solon's voice, though energetic, rasped slightly from ages of use.

Jareth sighed, slowly standing from his throne and walking the length of the room as he spoke into the crystal, "It's the child. The Labyrinth seems to want her to leave, but I cannot see her return with...that woman," He spat the words. "Yet if she remains here she'll become one of 'them'."

"Sounds like you'rre in a rrut." Came a shrill voice.

The old man raised angry eyes to his symbiote, "He is talking to me." Solon then rubbed his fingers over the edge of his long white mustache, thinking of an answer for his king. His eyes raised slightly in thought, then he cleared his throat, "Your majesty, sometimes the hardest route is the easiest answer."

Jareth let the words play around in his head a moment, knowing that often Solon never said anything directly. When he still couldn't think of what the man wanted him to choose, he prompted, "Meaning?"

"Rethink the possibilities."

"Alright then. One, Quake remains here as a goblin with a chance of becoming insane. Two, save her from becoming a goblin and give her as a slave to someone who could mistreat her and wound her for life." By this time he was pacing the room quite rapidly, totally ignoring the goblins that got underfoot, "I can do neither to her. But if she returns to Earth, I'm afraid all she'll know is heartache."

"The heart heals." Solon stated.

The heart heals. She could survive whatever she might face on Earth, have a life safe from magic and torture. Jareth frowned. It was the easiest answer, yet the hardest to accept; he would have no control over what happened to her on Earth. "Then that is all I can do."

"Them's the brreaks."

Jareth slightly laughed, "Yes, well. Solon, I have a job for you. You can find the girl's mother at the sundial. Teach her your philosophy on placing others before oneself. Do not let her leave without proving she's understands you."

"And…what of the lesson?" Solon asked, indicating to the large creature at his side.

"The beast's linguistic education can wait. The woman will only be here a short while longer. Now go."


	7. Straightened Priority

Linda didn't know how long she had been sitting on the stone throne; all she knew was that she must have zoned out with her guilty thoughts. Sarah had never laughed like that around her; Linda had never given her a reason to. But now the child was crying, which was what knocked Linda back to reality. Sarah sounded so scared. This cry was unheard of by Linda, and it suddenly made her frightened for her child. She had no idea what the Goblin King was actually doing with her daughter and it had never occurred to her before that moment that Sarah could be slowly transforming into one of those horrible creatures as the time went on. Sarah's crying didn't last but for a few minutes, and when she stopped Linda's heart was filled with dread. Either Sarah wasn't upset anymore or something had made her shut up.

Linda jumped up, feeling for once that she had to do something more than just reach the castle; she had to reach Sarah in time. The castle was right there, she could see it over the hedge, but there were no openings in that direction. She searched the walls and openings around her for the right path that would take her closer to her daughter and was about to pick one when out of it came two strange looking creatures. The huge furry one made Linda want to run away just from the sight of it, but before she could move, she was addressed.

"Ah, young woman." The other, an old looking man with a strange hat, stated, "A word."

It wasn't until Linda saw his hat blink that she realized it was alive too. She shook the absurdity of the creature from her head and then looked at the man blow him, "I don't have time, I need to get to the castle five minutes ago. Can you tell me how?"

But the man kept on walking as if he'd forgotten she was there, that he had spoken to her first. His hat seemed to pay attention, looking first at Linda, then to the Wiseman, "She's rright behind you. Wherre arre you going?"

Linda rolled her eyes, "You said you wanted to talk to me. If you aren't going to, at least tell me where the castle is."

The Wiseman kept walking, but his hat turned it's head back to her, "Well, I think you should follow us. He won't talk 'til he's settled."

Linda wasn't sure if she should waste her time with these...things. But maybe if she spent a minute or two to squeeze some answers out of them, she could find how to get through the Labyrinth quicker. She was just about to take a step to follow when she was knocked aside by the large monster, its course fur scratching against her face. She pushed herself away.

"Hey, watch where you are going!" Linda yelled at it.

"Sowwy." It softly growled, it's cow like eyes seemed to plead for her forgiveness a moment before it moved on to follow the old man.

Linda hissed to the air as she followed them, jogging a few steps to catch up with the man. She tried to get him to talk to her, to no avail, but the bird creature was attentive.

"The castle is over there," she pointed, "but I don't know which path I should take to get there."

The bird clucked to itself as his host walked the steps to the throne of stone books, "How am I supposed to know? I'm only a hat."

"Have you been there?" Linda flopped her arms and stopped in her tracks, "Is there even a way to it or is this whole thing pointless?"

"Everything has a purpose." The old man groaned as he eased himself into his throne.

Linda marched up to him, "Just tell me how to get to the castle. I don't have much time."

"In a hurry arre ya'." The bird trilled.

"Yes! My daughter is there and I think something bad has happened to her."

"To get to the castle, you must find your priority." The old man stated, as if his words were those of wisdom.

"My priority is to get to Sarah." Linda snapped.

The Wiseman raised his eyes to her, "Is that so...then you must know your right hand from your left."

Linda furrowed her brow, "What are you talking about?"

"Do you know your right hand from your left?" He asked slowly.

The bird noticed Linda still did not understand and it piped in, "Look at your hands."

"My hands?" Linda shook her head but looked them. "What am I supposed to see."

"What is the difference between them?" The Wiseman asked.

Both hands had tiny scratches from the many times she had fallen down in this crazy maze, but the thing that made them different was on her left hand, "One has my wedding ring."

The old man looked insightful at it, "And is that a symbol of your priority?"

"My ring?" Then to herself, "My marriage. No, I haven't really worked for it in a long time."

"Then your right hand holds your priority."

"Where is he going with this?" Linda asked his hat.

The bird rolled his eyes and looked to the sky, "He's lost his crackers if you ask me."

"Be quite!" The old man shouted above him, "Young woman, what do you hold in your right hand?"

"There's nothing there."

"Then what you seek will fill it."

"Sarah?"

He nodded to her, "If you claim her to be your priority. Empty hands wither the heart. Often, one must hide from their right hand what their left hand is doing."

Linda looked back to her hands. He was right. This whole time she had thought Sarah was her problem, when all along it was her marriage; Sarah was merely a scapegoat. Linda didn't want to have Sarah in the picture because that meant she would have to stay with Robert. But Sarah had nothing to do with her marriage; she could divorce Robert anytime. If it could have been Robert she had wished away, Linda wouldn't have even fought for him.

"So what you are saying is I can leave Robert, but I can't leave Sarah?"

The bird rolled its eyes again. "Eh, who knows what he means. Take it as you will."

"How do I get to my daughter? Please, she can't be changed. It's not her fault."

"Ludo will show you the way." The Wiseman indicated to the creature with his hand.

The mountain of a beast groaned, his long ears perking slightly at being called. "Ludo show?"

"Yes, to the castle."

The beast started to walk off towards an opening into the hedge, yet Linda looked back to the man with confused eyes, "I just came from there. Are you sure he knows the way?"

But the old man didn't answer. He had fallen asleep, his chin resting on the top of his chest, the glasses on his head slowly slipping down his forehead as he snored.

The bird hat chirped, "I wouldn't follow that yeti."

Linda turned to follow the beast anyway, "At least I'll get somewhere."

"Hey, you haven't paid yet!" The bird's voice sharply trilled.

"Paid?"

"Wisdom doesn't come cheep. You've gotta leave a contribution."

"He didn't tell me anything of use!" Linda protested at the sight of the catch box that suddenly was in the old man's hand.

"Yes, he did. You didn't know where you were going before. Now you do."

"But you said that," Linda pointed towards Ludo, "that thing didn't know the way."

"But now you know where to go, what you are looking for."

"That's no different than when I first started. Sarah was always the reason I came."

"Ha, dat's what you think." The bird smirked wickedly, if that is what you could call his expression, "You came to save yourrself. Nobody who rruns the maze comes because they 'love' the one they wanted to be rid of. You have to learrn to do that. Have you?"

Even though she knew it wasn't Sarah's fault she had problems in her life, love was still something she wasn't sure she had for the girl, "I don't know. But I know I've got to get to her and get her out of this place. I don't care what the book said."

"Eh? You've seen one of 'da books?" the bird asked.

"Yeah, it's how I found out about this place."

"So what d'it say?" He seemed very interested.

"That Sarah belonged here...and I would be a star."

It shrugged, "Huh. The books neverr lie. But you'rre gonna get herr back anyway."

"How do you know that?" Linda asked suspiciously.

The bird cleared its throat, "You'd better catch up to that yak if you want to get to the castle."

Linda gave him a side-glance before sprinting off to follow the creature Ludo.

"Hey, wait up." Linda caught pace with him, though three of her steps equaled one of his. "Are you sure you know where you are going?"

He just grunted.

"What kinda answer was that? Is the castle this way?"

His voiced rumbled in this throat again and he kept walking. Linda decided to take her chances for the moment and follow the beast. Her mind drifted to what the bird had told her. Now that she remembered the book, Linda tried to remember what happened in it. Yes, the character of Lyla had gone through the dangers of the Labyrinth, but she lost her daughter. If the 'bird' was right that the book didn't lie, were her efforts pointless? Was Sarah destined to stay here forever and Linda just had to accept it? No, she didn't know if any of it was true; it could just be a trick to make her think it was meant to be so she would just give up. If there was any chance of saving Sarah, she had to keep going.

"What name?"

Linda looked to the furry creature above her, "Huh?"

"What name?" it asked again.

"Linda."

"Winda. Winda." It kept repeating her name over and over again.

His mispronunciation of it was cute at first, but he wouldn't stop saying it and it started to annoy her.

"Ludo...that's your name right? Cut it out, 'kay. We all know my name now." She thought her remark was funny, but the creature did not; he grunted a bit harshly. So she thought she'd bring up the subject of her quest, "So how far away is the castle from here?"

He stopped a moment and looked around the path they were on, then looked at her hopelessly.

"No…Oh no." Linda shouted at him, "Don't you tell me we are lost."

It nodded, then said almost sadly, "Lost."

Linda's hands flew into the air and she stormed off without him, mumbling out loud to herself as she went, "Great, just great! What am I supposed to do? I don't even know how much time I have left."

"Well, my lady, perhaps I may be of assistance." Linda turned to find a terrier dressed in a striped medieval vest, something that would have been worn in Shakespeare's time. His blue cap was similar to a page's hat and had a yellow feather along one side. If it weren't for the patch over his left eye, she might not have been so wary of him-that, and in his hand was a short lance, of whichs end he rested on the ground. This knight was on the back of a trembling sheepdog, riding it as if a horse. But behind him was a wall with two promising looking doors, each with a demon's head as a knocker: one with the ring attached to the ears, the other the ring within it's mouth. She could have sworn they were actually looking at her. She shook her head and faced the…knight.

"What...who are you?" Linda corrected herself, thinking maybe the creatures in this place didn't think themselves as strange; she was the one out of place.

"Didymus, my lady." He took off his cap and bowed slightly to her.

"You know how much time I have left?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course." He brought a pocket watch out of his vest, "it is the hour of six."

"I have only been here six hours!" Linda almost made herself faint from the info, "I feel like have been here for ages." She started towards the doors, "Will one of these take me to the castle?"

"Halt!" Didymus snapped, blocking her path.

"What? Let me pass." She tried to get around him, but he smacked his lance into her shin. "Ouch. What was that for?"

"I cannot allow you to pass." He said dutifully.

"Oh yes you will." She tried to shove past him, but he and his steed were surprisingly stronger than she, even though combined they weren't taller than her hips.

"Who dost thou think thou art, the king?" He shrilly asked.

"It's your King who's making me go through this," She huffed.

"Oh, I see. Well then, I shall take you to him." He said with directness, moving his steed around her.

Linda was amazed, "You will?"

"Yea, verily." He laughed, poking her with his lance, "As my prisoner."

"What? Why?"

"No one comes through this land without being punished by the Goblin King."

He poked her again, making her jump, "Hey, watch it. I'm not being punished, I'm trying to save my daughter."

But he ignored her protests, prodding her on. "Start moving."

Linda had no choice but to obey him, unless she wanted a lance through her back. She had a feeling that if she could only get to those doors, one of them had to have a path to the castle, but Didymus forced her further from them.

She didn't know how long she was pushed through the hedges, probably half an hour, but she counted the number of right and left turns he directed her to make and figured they were only going in circles. Once she thought she spotted the two doors she had seen earlier, and she knew she had passed a particularly distinct obelisk at least twice; a crack on the left side of its pedestal was always the same. Didymus had at both passes skipped an opening to the right of the obelisk. This time she planed to go that way and make her escape. As soon as they neared it, she sprinted through and kept running.

She heard her captor ordering her to stop, but he couldn't get his steed to follow her fast enough and she was thankful that his voice got further behind her. After five minutes of weaving in and out of bushes, however, she had to stop. She couldn't breathe and her side hurt from running. She hated running in this place, but it seemed to be the only way she could get any progress.

Linda had a harder time catching her breath this run. She had no idea she was this out of shape; she'd definitely have to fix that when she returned home. She only rested a moment, knowing that after a run like that, if she stood still her muscles might cramp, and she certainly didn't need that.

"Hey, lady?"

Linda looked for the high pitched/scratchy voice and nearly jumped out of her skin when she spotted what it was that had called to her. She'd never seen anything like it before-it was just a head, it's beak like nose as fiery red as it's feathery fur. She couldn't say its eyes were beady-they were huge-but beady was the word that came to her mind at the sight of them. The creature was trying to get near her, flapping it's ears, which really did look like pink wings, to move closer to her.

"Hey," Its shrill voice started again, "I've lost my head."

Linda laughed; it was so absurd. "I can see that. Where is the rest of you?"

It looked up to the wall, "On the other side. Can you throw me back?"

"What's over there?"

"My gang. We was havin' a wild game. You should come play!"

"No, I have to get to the castle."

"The castle, well, that's on the way."

"It is!" Linda asked, stepping forward.

"Sure. Just snatch me up and I'll get you there." Its smile revealed small yet pointy teeth.

Linda's nose scrunched at the thought of touching the creature, but she did it any way, cringing the whole time. Its fur was soft, but a little scratchy, reminding her of ostrich feathers. "What are you anyway?"

"A Firey."

"Huh. Okay," Linda shrugged, looking down on it as she held it in the crook of her left arm, "Lead the way."

The Firey told her where to go, and she wasn't too surprised when it led her to the doors the knight had been guarding before; thank goodness there was no sign of him.

"So which door do we take?" Linda asked the creature in her arms.

"Right." It screeched.

"Don't open that door!"

Both Linda and the Firey looked around for the voice, but there was no one.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Linda called out

"Speak up."

Linda's eyes latched on to the doorknocker on the left, which was looking straight at her.

"It's rude to stare." It said after a moment.

"You looked at me first." Linda countered, then looked down at the Firey as she went to the other door. She pushed but it wouldn't open. "Come on! Open up."

"OOnt oos eee." The other faced knocker tried to speak, but the ring in its mouth hindered it.

"What was that?" Linda asked it.

"Oont oos eee."

She looked to the other knocker, "Do you know what he said?"

"Huh?" After she repeated herself louder, it answered, "All he does is mumble. But he probably doesn't want you to knock his door."

"Why not?"

"That's my home in there." the Firey piped in angrily.

"Bad things happen in that forest." The knocker answered.

The Firey looked up at Linda, "He's jokin'. We only chilly down."

"How do we get in?" Linda asked it.

"I guess ya have to knock."

The knocker shook its head and used it's lips to keep the ring away from Linda's hand, but she eventually grabbed hold of it and gave the door one hard knock. The door opened, revealing a dark but lush forest beyond.

"Come on, lets go Lady." the Firey said, "They probably kept the game goin' without me."

This forest was unlike anything Linda had seen from the forests on Earth. This truly looked like a place fairies would live. The trunks of the trees shimmered with a glitter like moss and a light fog filtered through the branches and hovered over the leaf-covered ground. One would have thought such a place would be teeming with life, but Linda couldn't hear a sound. She walked on in silence, occasionally looking at the Firey for instructions on which way she should go, but it never said anything.

"Are we going the right direction to the castle?"

"Sure." Was all it said.

After a moment, she felt the Firey's ears move, its eyes looking around as if it heard something. Just then, a twig broke behind Linda, causing her to jump and nearly drop the head. She turned around and screamed when a full-bodied Firey jumped out at her.

"Hey, what you yelling at?" The Firey asked her, then bent a little to talk to the head she was holding, "Where you been?"

The Firey in her arm looked sheepish, "I threw myself too far, I guess."

"Well, come on, the game's still goin'." The other Firey stated, grabbing hold of Linda and pulling her to follow.

Linda started to protest, but then she spotted six other Firey's. Each had a different limb missing and the rest of their joined body parts were apparently in search of it. But when the limb was found, all they did was choose another limb to go in search of, throwing it as far away as they could. Whatever game this was, Linda couldn't believe it was very comfortable. Linda spotted one headless Firey body laying on the ground on its side, one leg crossed over its knee, tapping the air impatiently.

"Hey, there's my body!" The head in her arms shouted.

She walked it over to itself, amazed that the body stood and took the head from her. It placed its head back on its body, then said, "So, what are you going to throw?"

Linda glared at him, "You said the castle was 'on the way.' Well, where is it?"

"Right, the castle." Then he shouted to his friends, "Hey guys, lets take her to the castle!"

They all seemed very eager to help her. They all gathered themselves and straightened their bodies, though they still fiddled with themselves as they led her on.

"Let's play a travel game!" One piped in.

"Let's juggle our heads!"

Linda couldn't help but laugh at how strange it looked having seven disembodied heads flying through the air. They continued walking on like this for a few minutes, then one of them stopped it's head and looked at Linda. She wasn't sure if it was the one whose head she had carried or not; they all looked alike.

"Hey lady, you gotta play too."

"No thanks." She answered politely.

"You gotta play." It started reaching for her head.

She jerked herself away from him, "I said I'm not playing."

"Gang, she won't take off her head." He shouted to the others.

They all immediately stopped their game and started surrounding her.

"Won't play?"

"What's wrong little lady?"

"Need us to help you take off your head?"

"No!" Linda shouted, "Come on, let's get to the castle."

"Play." One demanded, the pupil of his blue eyes turning bright red.

"Go throw your own head." Linda said, trying to push her way through them all.

"Stop her!" Another shouted, and they grabbed a hold of her.

"What are you doing?" Linda struggled against them, "Let go of me."

"Are you going to play?"

"Of course not! I can't take off my head."

"We can help you with that," One smiled, reaching a sharp nailed hand to her throat.

"No, I don't want to play!" Linda shrieked, not wanting to be touched.

"Don't want to play?" One asked, completely confused, then he brightened, "Well if she won't follow the rules, then let's throw her in the pit!"

"What? What rules?" Linda tried to get some answers but they dragged her to the front of a large, gaping hole. Without any reason she could comprehend, they threw her in.


	8. All for the Best

"Well, this hasn't happened in a while," Hoggle grumbled, having suddenly found himself encased in darkness.

Sometimes Jareth told him to already be waiting in some place or another when he foresaw that the wisher would find themselves in a fix, but this time the Goblin King didn't tell him anything; he was just there. He wasn't worried though; he knew how to get out of every oubliette in the Labyrinth. That's why he was the one chosen to get the wishers out when they found themselves trapped in one. And with this Williams lady, he expected her to have gotten stuck much sooner. He could see her, despite the lack of illumination. Her reaction to her current surroundings didn't surprise him; she was just sitting there, as if she didn't even want to attempt to get out. Either she had endured so much that she was too exhausted to go on, or maybe she just didn't care to try any more. He doubted it was the former option. From what he had gathered, the Labyrinth didn't seem to have put up any obstacles against her and it seemed like the Goblin King was leaving her alone too. Hoggle shook his head to himself; none of it made sense, the way she had been allowed to get this far so easily.

Linda stared into the darkness, no longer trying to think of a way to reach the opening far above her. It was so high up that the little light that there was in the forest above didn't reach the pit's floor. The air was stale and dank, as if it hadn't been disturbed in centuries. There was no way to reach Sarah from this hole. Maybe it was for the best. Linda couldn't seem to find her way, wasn't given any hints on how to reach the castle; maybe the book was right after all―she wasn't meant to reach Sarah. If she didn't make it on time, her daughter would still be alive, living in this fantastical land, though in the form of a goblin. Without Sarah to take care of, she could leave Robert freely and return to the stage, maybe even one-day reach the silver screen. She just didn't know if anyone other than her husband would miss the child if their memories weren't automatically erased like Milly said would happen.

Linda drifted back to reality from her thoughts when her eyes glided to a flickering candle that had suddenly lit up, behind which the ancient dwarf who had shown her the entrance of the Labyrinth stared at her with unblinking blue eyes.

She stood up and began to search the walls for an opening with the new light. Cobwebs upon cobwebs clung to the ceiling and sides of the walls. Thick, rusted chains hung from the ceiling and at least three skeletons of unrecognizable creatures scattered the ground. Besides that, there was nothing but solid stone, "Where did you come from?"

"You think too much." The dwarf started, "If you didn't, you would have heard me here the whole time."

Linda looked at him curiously, "Are you stuck too, Hobble?"

"It's Hoggle, and I ain't stuck. I'm to take you back to the beginning."

"Why? Haven't I already lost? We can't get out of here."

Hoggle looked disgusted and flopped his hands down, "I was sent to get you out of this mess. Why do you always take things for granted?"

Linda looked around, still not certain how they could leave, "What is this place anyway?"

"An oubliette."

"Huh." Linda still looked around, not really sure of what the word meant.

"Do you want out or not?" Hoggle asked gruffly, "You still have five hours left."

"What use will it do? I'll just get stuck somewhere else or get lost again. It's just too far." Linda whined.

"Don't you care for your girl?"

Linda should have jumped and said 'yes'-but she knew she felt Sarah more of a burden than anything; always needing her attention, always needing her to play with. She could do without Sarah, she could do without Robert, she could do without anyone who didn't take her seriously as an actress. But a part of her knew she had no right letting Sarah be turned into a goblin and that she had to at least try until her 13 hours were finished, even if the story said Sarah belonged here. She had no certainty that the book was true, but it was hard to fight what she really felt. No matter, she was an actress; she'd just make that Goblin King believe she desperately wanted Sarah back. He was a striking man; so what if he didn't seem to be attracted to her. It wouldn't be such a loss to try to charm him again if that's what it took to get Sarah out of this mess.

With an air of confidence and concern, she turned to the dwarf, "I love Sarah with all my heart."

"Your heart must be made of stone then. No one takes that long to answer if they care."

Linda disregarded him, "Well, if I have to start all over again, so be it. You said you could get me out, so show me."

The dwarf growled lowly as he walked to the other side of the oubliette, "I'll do it, but YOU are going straight to the beginning."

Linda huffed, crossing her arms, "What ever."

She watched as Hoggle reached to the floor below him and pulled up a plank of wood much taller than his small body. He heaved it to the stone wall with a grunt, placing it as if a door. And it was a door, for a second later he pulled one side of it from the wall and it opened up to show a passageway beyond.

"Follow me."

Jareth watched Linda through a crystal as he sat rigidly on his throne, unnerved that this woman had no love for her beautiful little one. She only wanted to start over again to prove herself-nothing more. He dreaded the choice he had made; what would become of little Sarah in her world if left with her mother?

Again the child giggled, and again he could not find her against the grey stones and putrid goblins in the room. But he did notice a group of six goblins crowded together, pushing and shoving at one another to get at something in the middle of them all. From out of them dashed the three-year-old, giggling with pigtails bouncing while she held some stuffed animal tightly to her chest as she escaped. One goblin in particular ran after her, shouting at her to give him back his toy, grabbing the bear's limb and yanking it from her hold.

"No, no!"

Jareth heard Sarah's tiny voice disciplining the goblin for retrieving the teddy bear she had taken. The King rolled his eyes; an hour ago the child had lost herself in a room with no ups or downs and stairs that led to nowhere and been frightened to death. However, once she had found the bear-the object that had been ignored by the goblins earlier for having tripped their king-her spirits lightened and she hadn't cried again.

Yet, now that the bear had been taken back by the goblin, a new emotion emerged from her small form. Sarah did not lash out against the goblin like any other child her age would have immediately done; instead her infant mind tried to find some means to enact revenge. Jareth watched where her big eyes focused-a cloth that lay under a heavy looking chalice, which so happened to be angled just above the goblin's foot.

挿How could such a little thing know such cruelty,' he wondered as he watched her tiny hand reach for the cloth.

"Sarah." He bellowed.

The girl knew she was caught and looked at him with hurt eyes, as if it was his fault she was in trouble.

"Sarah, come here."

At first her little body didn't move. She only looked to the goblins around her, seeing if one of them would help her, but at the king's second call, she jumped and took her first step towards him. The goblins laughed at her as she passed them; they didn't care that she was in trouble. They were glad it was her and not them.

Jareth rose from his throne and descended the steps to the floor, crouching down to her eye level as she toddled to him. When her eyes refused to look at his, he gently took her face in his gloved hand and made her look at him.

"We do not hurt others."

Her eyes began to well with tears; a sight he had seen in many children when he prevented them from harming his subjects. But her sad eyes affected him. Children that young imitate their parents; perhaps she was only portraying what she had seen her mother doing. Linda had told her she would become a goblin; how many other threats had the woman given her? Had words been the woman's only lashes? There was no indication that the child had been physically abused, but he had no way of knowing how far the Williams woman had gone before she had made the wish. Could he give this child back to harmful arms? Jareth frowned at this thought, but he could tell the child mistook the reaction to be towards her, for her face began to turn red and she began to whimper. Her big grey green eyes pleaded with him to forgive her, to make it all better.

'Don't give in. Don't get attached. She is not mine. I do not have to comfort her. I'm giving her back.' part of him said, while another told him, 'Does she get affection at home? Is cruelty all she knows? How can I give her back if that's all she'll receive of life?'

At the first outburst of her strangely loud voice, Jareth gathered her in his arms and carried her to his throne. She still cried as she sat upon his lap, and it began to annoy him.

"Sarah!" He didn't mean to snap her name so harshly but it had the desired effect. She stopped making noise, though her body shook, clearly still upset.

He looked into her eyes wondering what she might want of him. What could he possibly give her? He supposed she at least needed to hear words from him that would make her calm down. It felt sort of strange; he had never let himself bend for anyone before. He never would have guessed the occasion would be given to a three-year-old child.

He thought back to the object that had caused this problem in the first place; a teddy bear. A warn out, tan bear with a red bow tie. Why would she have wanted it in the first place? What had he seen the goblin she took it from use it for? Comfort. Children had stuffed animals because they gave a since of comfort.

He looked for the toy again, taking note that he would have a nice talk with its goblin owner on where to keep personal belongings in his throne room. He saw that the goblin no longer paid attention to the bear which again lay in the middle of the room. Jareth summoned the toy to him and handed it to Sarah. But she didn't touch it.

The child looked at him confusedly. She knew she had gotten in trouble for trying to take it before. Was he trying to punish her?

He handed it to her again, "Here, it's yours now."

Sarah's tiny hand questionably reached for it and she only stared at it as she held it.

Jareth was confused. She had gotten what she wanted, so why didn't it make her happy? "What's wrong now?"

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, "Are you mad?"

Why would she care about what he thought? He smiled reassuringly, "No, I'm not."

Her eyes immediately brightened and she hugged the teddy, then she stood on his lap and hugged Jareth's neck, "Thank you."

Jareth didn't expect this, didn't know how to react. Few had shown him affection before. No, that is not true. Many women had tried to charm their way out of traversing the Labyrinth-including Linda Williams-but it had been false attention. Sarah hugged him out of the goodness of her heart with the affection only a joyful, unblemished soul could give.

"Can we play?" Sarah asked into his ear.

Jareth grinned yet placed her on the stone floor, "Unfortunately, little one, I have to meet with your mother."

Sarah's eyes lit up with love for her mother, "Mommy! Can I see her?"

Jareth saw a bit of desperation in the child's desire. "Sarah, how long has it been since you have seen her?"

"Looong."

Long to a child could be a few hours, but he had the feeling it could actually have been days. Jareth closed his eyes as a heart wrenching thought entered his mind. Would her mother still abandon her Above? Would it just be better to keep her in his own care, let her become a goblin? He tried to envision this child as such a creature-perhaps an intelligent one, but revolting nonetheless. The more he thought on it, the more he felt he could not let it happen; she had to return to her world. It was for the best.

Jareth crouched to her eye level again, "You will see your mother soon. But first I must see her."

"Where is she?"

He picked the girl up, teddy bear in hand, and carried her to a window that overlooked a large portion of his kingdom. Holding her in one arm, he produced a crystal ball in his free hand.

"Look into this."

Sarah saw her mother following a strange short person down a gray path enclosed by brick walls. She said triumphantly, as if she found her mother herself, "Mommy! …and a funny man."

Jareth grinned, and pointed into the distance, "She is there, at the farthest edge of my kingdom."

The child looked a moment out across the vastness of the maze, her eyes stretching to find her mother, "I don't see mommy."

"She's right here in the crystal." Jareth raised it again to her.

Sarah grabbed a hold of the ball, pressing her nose against it to see, believing her mother was actually inside, "Mommy?"

When Jareth saw the woman's figure inside abruptly stop and search the air around her for the voice she had heard, he snatched the orb from the child's hands and looked at her almost wildly. How was it possible? But she didn't know she had done something wrong, for she hardly noticed his gaze as she focused on the bear in her arms. He quickly but carefully placed her back on the ground and she wandered off, talking nonsense to the teddy bear.

Jareth didn't know how the child was able to speak through the crystal. Perhaps it was a side effect of the way his magic had invaded her before; he had no way of telling. It was another reason to send her away; the sooner the better.

Jareth left the goblins with strict instructions to watch Sarah and make sure she didn't leave that room. She had the bear to play with, so he hoped that would be enough to keep her stationary while he went to meet Linda as she returned to the entrance of the maze.

Linda looked around distraught as she followed the dwarf out the door with which she had entered the Labyrinth. He led her across the sandy ground to stand at the top of the hill that overlooked the maze and then turned to face it. It sort of amazed her how calm the Labyrinth looked from here, but she knew better than to believe her eyes. Within those walls she had never found her bearings. She didn't even know if she'd ever been heading in the direction of the castle.

After just standing there for a minute in the bright sunlight, she was going to ask Hoggle what she needed to do now, but he had lowered his eyes, folding his hands in front of him as if waiting. She spotted the cause of his suddenly meek disposition for the Goblin King stood before her, staring at her coldly with his mismatched eyes. Her demeanor changed to boldness and she placed her hands to her hips, showing him she couldn't be intimidated.

Jareth sneered at her attitude. "Do you still want to reach your daughter, Mrs. Williams?"

"It's Linda."

"Oh, is it? As I recall, you are married, are you not?"

"I still am," She said with regret.

"Ah, then I must address you accordingly, Mrs. Williams." He grinned as he emphasized her title.

Linda was insulted by this, "Fine. Where do I start now?"

"In a hurry are we? Care for your Sarah that much, do you?" He scoffed, walking around her. But then he stopped abruptly in front of her. "No, it is merely an inconvenience to you, isn't it? The sooner you're done the sooner you can get back to your career."

Linda could not look at him, "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to," Jareth said matter-of-factually. With a little more passion, he hissed, "That child waits for you now as she has waited for days. Did you banish her love when you banished her to me?"

This did hit Linda's heart; she hadn't thought of Sarah's feelings before, "No, I just…the book said she would be happy here. Loved here. I know I couldn't give her that. I…thought…maybe you could."

Jareth felt that might be true. He found he did have feelings for this child. But little Sarah as a goblin, he could not allow. He closed his eyes as he said, "I will not keep her."

Linda suddenly saw her daughter in the king's arms. The child immediately smiled at seeing her and extended her arm, the one not holding a tattered teddy bear, to reach for her. Linda remained frozen.

"I don't understand, I haven't finished." She stuttered.

"Take her." Jareth demanded. He noticed Sarah look at him with trepidation at his forceful remark and he softened his expression for her sake.

Linda took the few steps forward with her head bowed. She took Sarah from the king, holding her lightly on her hip. She could look neither of them in the eye.

"Linda," the king said with authority yet also regret, "Sarah was given to you to be loved in your world, not mine. Care for her well."

Linda only nodded her head, noticing she was no longer outside the Labyrinth but in the nursery, where she had made the wish for the goblins to take Sarah away. She looked around her; there was no Goblin King or dwarf, only Sarah playing with the bear in her arms. In the distance she could hear her husband typing on the typewriter, just as she had left him. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

Hoggle stood on the hill, bewildered by the lost expression on his king's face. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. The Goblin King had never given back a child to someone unworthy before. "Cor, you didn't have to give her the girl. She don't care 'bout her."

'But I do.' Jareth thought to himself, yet he snapped to Hoggle, "Are you questioning my judgment?"

The dwarf stood up straight and in self defense, took a step back, "Well, I…uh...No, your majesty. I just thought the little one would have a better life here than with her."

Jareth nodded, "Perhaps. The child is still mine."

"Then why did ya let 'er go?" Hoggle interrupted.

The dwarf's worry amused the King, "Why the concern? Is it your affair whether I choose to forgo adding a goblin to my minions?"

Though trembling, Hoggle still voiced his opinion, "The goblins are happy where they are, and she would have been too. Linda ain't gotta mind for no one but herself, and you were supposed to change that."

"Was I?" Jareth challenged, but he knew the dwarf was right. Linda had learned nothing from her experience there, and had it not been for the damnable maze, he could have done something more about that.

"All I knows is that its been done before, and you've never been THAT generous. You didn't even let her rot in the oubliette, just sent me straight to her…"

"I did not send you. It must have been the Labyrinth." He said it more for his own ears than the dwarf's. He quickly retorted, "No matter, what's done is done. I will watch the child's progress on Earth. If I find she is abused, be assured, she'll be a goblin faster than her mother can blink."


	9. What Dreams May Come

Sometimes, when one does nothing more than the same routine every day their entire life, they start to doubt the point of their existence. 'What am I doing here? What more is there to live for?' Those are the type of thoughts that plagued the Goblin King's mind the days following the Williams's departure. Yes, he knew his duties were to keep the Labyrinth within its boundaries and humans from escaping its walls, but as for his personal affairs, he had nothing to occupy his time; it was all mundane. He didn't care to venture the other kingdoms or visit other courts; there were very few who would willingly accept him anyway. All he was to them was someone they could call if they needed defense, all because he was the one who had ended the last human rebellion. He wished he hadn't been involved in that at all. But that had been six hundred years ago and he doubted anything like that would occur again. Humans Underground were too afraid to raise another riot and the humans of Earth were too unaware of magic to be a threat.

Maybe it was the knowledge that magic on Earth was dieing because of failing belief that he found he didn't see a point in his remaining bound to the Labyrinth. Magic Underground was natural; magic on Earth only lasted as much as it was wanted, needed. Truly, the knowledge of his world was no longer spread through folktales and fairy stories. All that was left, all that kept the gate between the worlds open were the books, and only the one was accounted for. Whether the other three had been destroyed was undetermined. In Jareth's opinion, they should all be destroyed, sever the connection between the two worlds once and for all to end the paranoia that spread through his kind. Then again, if that did happen and the Fae realized no more humans would ever come Underground, would there be genocide and all of human blood exterminated? He shuddered at the thought; he was part human and though he was unashamed of it, he wouldn't want to be included in their numbers if such a holocaust occurred. His only reason for not fleeing his current existence was the knowing that without him, so much chaos could happen. No other Fae wanted his position yet they envied the power that he held; controlling the Labyrinth was no small feat. But none of them wanted to be near the Gate nor surrounded by goblins. As long as Jareth obeyed the wishes of the Council, he could rule the Labyrinth.

Sometimes he wished he didn't have to go through it alone, but to include another in his affairs-it would be too much to ask. Though powerful, his was a lonely existence. Should anyone chose to stay by his side, he would be their only companion, give or take a few hundred goblins and the ocassional outing when being called upon by the Council.

He supposed he was lucky he had his goblins to look over, to entertain him in his solitude. They could sense when their king was distraught or just moody in general. They seemed to have primal human instincts of survival, having once been privy to such emotions in their former state. When the one who held the balance over their life or death became testy, they did anything they could to lift his spirits.

Now, with him staring out the window onto his kingdom, the goblins didn't know what to do. He wasn't angry or irate, so they couldn't do something humorous to cheer him. He wasn't bossy so there was no need to run away. He wasn't in the mood to have them train for any battles as he often had them do, though they didn't know why. He wasn't of any temperament they were familiar with. So not knowing what to do, they left him alone.

Jareth stared out over his kingdom, watching as the Labyrinth twisted and changed. That the maze had let the Williams woman through so easily was the first indication to him that something in it was changing. The days following her departure, it had acted the most frenzied he had ever seen it. He had allowed his subjects who lived within its terrain to move into the Goblin City, for a spell had been placed when the city was first built to protect it from any magic. Because of this, despite the gateway of pure magic being the very heart of the castle, its powers did not work on the Goblin City, keeping its inhabitants safe from the Labyrinth's movements. Jareth was grateful for that spell which kept some part of his kingdom unchangeable. It was one less thing for him to think about. He could still prevent the maze from escaping its set boundaries, but for the Labyrinth to change so quickly of recent; he wondered what had caused the change.

Perhaps there were others older and more knowledgeable who had answers of primal magics such as that which the Gateway held. Though he despised the Empress, he knew she would be the most learned of all.

"My lady." Jareth spoke into a crystal, faster than he had time to make it.

The Empress always seemed to be prepared for a summons; as far as he knew she had never been caught doing anything personal and always answered on the first request. "Jareth, your call is unexpected. Is there discontent in your kingdom?"

Jareth smiled disappointingly, "Something like that. The Labyrinth…the magic appears to want escape. I can control it but cannot sense the cause."

Malora nodded, "How long has it been like this?"

"Since we last spoke, to the very day."

"The day the lands shook." Her voice was far off, almost thoughtful.

"It affected more than just the Labyrinth? I wasn't aware of this."

"What? What did you do?"

"It wasn't so much myself, lady. When I touched the child…something happened and my magic entered her."

Jareth was slightly taken aback by the fury that flashed in the woman's eyes, "We were afraid one of the humans was the cause." Then to herself she muttered, "It was bound to come to pass."

"What is that, my lady?"

"That's right, you don't know," She smiled at this. "But it does not matter. The child is a goblin, the mother gone."

"The events did not turn out as such, my lady. They both returned to their own world."

"The woman won? That is odd for you, isn't it Jareth? I remember quite well you said she would not retrieve the girl, that the child would be changed."

"Things do not always go as planned," Jareth looked away from the crystal as he growled his words.

"Indeed." Malora grinned, "Then, pray tell, how did it come about that both humans left?"

Jareth did not answer her right away, and instead looked back out the window to his kingdom. It had been a weakness, him letting that child go; he had cared too much about her feelings and what was best for her well-being. Yet it was too late to change what he had already done, "I gave her back, there is nothing more to tell."

"You made that choice?"

"The Labyrinth made the choice," He snapped, looking back into the crystal at the Empress, "I merely agreed."

"You rule over it; it does not rule you. Why did you consent?" the Empress pushed, looking like a cat that had cornered a mouse, "Jareth, don't hide anything of this matter from me. I will make you tell me, you know I can do it. Don't force me."

Jareth stopped himself from shuddering. The meek and motherly body that was Malora held much power, power he couldn't touch; her appearance was deceiving. He was thankful the Underground was ruled by one inclined to be just and fair instead of being a complete tyrant. "Very well. Goblins do not hold human memories well when given proper persuasion to forget. However, had I allowed this child to be transformed, she would not have been like the others. She had foreknowledge of becoming a goblin. I have seen others with such knowledge go insane, destroying themselves and anything around them from the horror of what they had become. A babe so young should not be punished for her mother's crime."

"Yet the child could have stayed in some other kingdom."

"As a slave, yes, I know." He hissed.

"Strangely enough, had you sent the child to one of us, slavery would not have been her fate." Malora stated slyly.

Jareth looked concerned from the suddenly pleased look on the Empress's face. "What would have been done with her?"

"That is not certain."

Jareth narrowed his eyes, hating that she was being illusive. "If the child would not go into bondage, then what were the other options?"

"Do you want my choice or the majority opinion?"

"Majority? The Council knows of the child?" At the woman's nod, he was angered and confused, "There was a meeting and I was not told?"

"Again, you perceive so much." Malora smiled maliciously.

"Why was this hidden from me?"

"Because it concerns you, why else?" The woman brushed back her silver hair as she laughed at Jareth's scowl, "Oh, Goblin King, you have been away from us for too long. Rumors and prophecies do not reach your ears."

"Well, out with it!"

Malora's face froze in a dangerous look at his outburst, her violet eyes flaring. "Do not presume we are equals, MY subject. You will hear only what I want you to know of this matter."

Jareth wasn't about to argue with or apologize to her. He needed to know all he could and if he pushed her, she would tell him nothing. But he was not going to back down. "Fine then. What is the matter and what the hell does it have to do with me? If it is your will to tell me, of course." He added the last bit smoothly to edge off any anger that might have slipped with his tone.

Malora stretched out the silence for a moment, loving her ability to make others squirm in anticipation, "You know King Frokna of the Trolls remarried a few hundred years ago, to that lowly little elfin princess, Cestral?"

It angered Jareth how Malora referred to his companion and confidant. The elf may be meek and shy, but that did not make her lowly.

"Well," Malora went on, "she is a seer, dreaming of things that have been and that which will be…depending on if we cannot stop the course of events that lead to such a future. Cestral's insights are unmatched; I don't know her visions to have ever been misleading." She made sure Jareth was following and only continued when he nodded, "Well, it seems that nymph dreamt of you gaining an heir with this child..."

"An heir?" Jareth stiffened. This was the first he had heard of it; why hadn't Cestral told him. "That girl was to be my heir?"

"If you would let me finish," Malora rolled her eyes, "The child isn't to be your heir, she is to give you an heir."

"What?"

"Cestral's exact words were 'A human child-a girl not of this world will give the Goblin King a son, and her presence shall shake the foundations of the Underground.' What exactly she dreamt, she will tell only you."

Jareth moved immediately to contact the elf queen, desiring to know first hand so things might make sense, but Malora stopped him. "Do not try to speak to her just yet. As I said, the course of the future can be changed, and if I have anything to do with it, it will be. When the prophecy was first given, we were unsure if it meant there would be a literal shaking of our lands. Now that it seems that it was, we can safely assume that the girl child was the fulfillment."

"Explain this prophecy to me again." Jareth growled, a hint of doubt in his voice. He couldn't believe it could be legitimate.

"The one who shook the Underground shall bare you a son. It's not that hard to comprehend." Malora grinned at Jareth's perplexed features.

"With all respect, my lady, the girl is millennial younger than I, not to mention only three years old."

"You would not be the first to be in such a position." Malora reminded him, "Frokna, Tsojin, even Aquinas have younger wives."

"Yes, but those women were borne of this world and weren't remotely human. Do you really think I could have relations with one of non magic so willingly?"

"It does run in your family." Malora sneered the insult, "Besides, once you join with the girl, she will have magic, will she not?"

He laughed at the absurdity, "How is this to come to pass?"

"It has already begun-if you cannot see it."

Jareth shrugged, "I cannot."

"You have already set the child's path in motion to return to you," Malora frowned, looking at Jareth as though she was gazing straight through him, saying the words but her mind being somewhere else. "By returning her to her world, you have prevented her transformation-safeguarding your chance to produce an heir and…"

"If I wed at all," Jareth interrupted, "It will not be because a prophecy proclaims it."

"You must." Malora stated harshly and urgently, snapping her cool amethyst eyes back to his, "You must keep control over this human. She cannot have power over you; I cannot take that risk."

The way the Empress spoke, Jareth suspected there was more, "Why do you fear the child? What more haven't you told me?"

Malora did look surprised that he saw through her words, her violet eyes widening, but she shook her head, "That is not your concern."

"I know you, Malora," Jareth wasn't uncomfortable using her name, "Nothing frightens you."

She ignored his remark. "The choice is yours, the fate of this child. You can do as the other kings suggest and mold this girl's path to bring her back to you, or you can ignore her. But know either way, she will come-and there WILL be a child." Then the Empress smiled cruelly, "Or you could simply heed my judgment and rid the girl of her existence and never think on her again." At the appalled gleam in his eyes, the aura of magic around Jareth flared red at the horrendous thought. Malora softened, "But I can see you are already attached."

Jareth started to protest his concern for the child, but the expression on Malora's face caught him off guard. She looked the most sincere he'd ever seen her. There was a sparkle to her eyes towards him she had never held; she cared.

"You are attached, whether or not you will admit it." She laughed, "But, heed this: Humans crave magic, desire to be our equals. This child is young enough that if you bring her back now and wean her into the ways of the Fae, perhaps find some minor magic for her before you wed-she might not turn against us. In teaching her, she will be prepared for the duties as your queen and…"

"My queen?" Jareth interrupted, "You would not put her into servitude? You of all Fae would grant her a free life?"

"Only for the sake of the Underground," Malora stated. "You are as needed as any other king in the Underground, more so for you are protector of the Gate. It would do us ill to have you as an enemy, just because your queen was treated poorly in her youth." The Empress smiled slightly, "And no slave can become a queen."

Jareth smiled softly in agreement, but his features went solemn again soon enough, "I will not remove the child from her life. I have no claim on her."

"Yes you do, and you know it. You returned her, you can take her back. I know you can do it; you are the only one who can freely journey to Earth. She is still young in human years; if you take her now, she will not remember her world."

"And who would care for her? She cannot stay in the Labyrinth or she will be changed."

"Tsojin has volunteered to raise her. His people are more accepting of humans so no harm should come to the child." Malora sighed, "It's either that or leave her where she is, since you will not destroy her."

No, he couldn't fathom destroying such a perfect soul as Sarah's. But there had to be some escape from such a prophecy; not an escape for himself, but for the girl. Jareth narrowed his eyes, "How long do I have?"

"You have as long as you need to decide…but know that if she stays on Earth past her prime, once she is in our world, she will forever remain that age, and I am sure you do not want an old maid as your bride." Malora laughed but sighed when he didn't find humor in her words, "Bring her if you like, give her to whomever you choose, but make sure she knows her place. Do not let her think she could ever match you. Break her before she needs broken."

Jareth didn't bother with giving a formal closure to their conversation. He dissolved the crystal; he was done. For Malora to be so fervent about this child being controlled, there had to be something she wasn't telling him. She was offering this girl everything humans were currently denied; magic, marriage with a Fae; but why he could not decipher, unless through it Malora hoped to change the course of the future, her future. Just because she ruled the entire Underground should not mean she could interfere with others' lives just so hers would be protected. And he was the pawn, it seemed. He was to watch the girl, WED the girl, which was hard for him to grasp since she was so young. Of course he knew Sarah would age in time, but he was certain he would always think back to the one day he spent with her as an infant. It would be unusual.

Speaking to Cestral was foremost on his mind and he didn't just want to speak to her through a crystal. He needed to be in person to discuss such a matter that could determine the path of the rest of his life. However, he couldn't barge into the Troll Kingdom without consent. So forming another crystal, he called upon the husband of his friend. It took a moment for the Troll King to answer, which did nothing for Jareth's patience, but he tried to sound calm.

"Frokna, if it is permissible in your eyes, I would like to visit your wife."

King Frokna was a stubby creature who might have been confused with a dwarf had his skin not been a creamy green and two curly chocolate horns grace the sides of his head. The Troll King bowed his head in acknowledgment, "I am sure she would enjoy your company. She has desired to speak with you for some time."

"I shall arrive shortly."

Not half an hour later, a barn owl flew into a window of the black marble castle of the Troll Kingdom. He flew down many corridors until he finally reached his destination. Jareth transformed in Frokna's throne room, trying as he might to prevent himself from breathing heavily from his speedy flight. He went faster than he should have, but he anticipated seeing Cestral so much he didn't care that his haste could have caused self-injury. But he was fine and waited patiently for Cestral to be informed of his arrival.

Jareth was offered a chair next to the troll king. The two sat rigidly and eyed each other, staying silent and tolerant of the others' presence. What could a Fae possibly have to converse about with a troll? They had nothing in common to speak of save for each held magic, ran a kingdom, and had a common acquaintance in Cestral. But their unease lasted only a few minutes, for soon the small elf arrived. Before she even glanced at the Goblin King, she greeted her husband with a smile and a kiss; one thing Jareth had to admit, this couple, although quite different, was very happy.

Cestral approached Jareth and embraced him with a gentle hug, her brown hair sliding forward, covering his arms "I'm so very glad you've come."

He couldn't help but to smile at her cheerfulness when she pulled back, "It's been a long time."

"Nearly sixty years." She smiled sadly. "Too long. So, you are here because of my dream. The girl has come."

Jareth nodded, "It seems so."

Frokna spoke up, "This girl has us all in a bit of a bind, deciding what to do."

Jareth turned to him, "What sort of bind are you referring to? Malora was evasive in giving details."

"Well, if this girl comes, things shall be quite different." The troll shrugged, "Change may be good, but many are against it."

"Change?" Jareth looked to both of them, "What is to change?"

Cestral took his gloved hands in her own, urging him to stand, "We should speak where others will not hear."

The elf eyed her husband, who nodded that she could depart with her companion. She led the Goblin King down many corridors, each proving that trolls loved to collect treasures and display their wealth-there were more pieces of gold in those hallways than Jareth had seen his entire life. It seemed Frokna had come into wealth since the Goblin King had last graced his castle.

Finally, Cestral stopped in the library. Servants made sure the fire was well stoked and refreshments ready before the queen sent them away. She poured herself wine and offered Jareth a glass, but he declined, too unnerved to stomach the liquid. They sat on a couch of soft suede leather; Jareth lounged himself comfortably while Cestral sat properly, her face abysmal as she stared into the red liquor in the glass.

The Goblin King straightened at his friend's expression, "What is wrong?"

A tear escaped from the elf's brown eyes, "I don't know quite what to tell you, where to begin."

"Well," He sighed uneasily, "You could start by telling me what is making you cry. I am not that horrible to be around, am I?"

Cestral lightened slightly, "No, but it is you that has made me sad…or will, eventually." Her face scrunched in thought, her pointed ears turning red with her emotions, "You are so stubborn. You don't let go, don't let anyone explain. I mean seriously, how could you do that to her?"

"Do what?" Jareth stared at her, "To whom?"

Cestral wiped away her tear, bowing her head in embarrassment, "Sometimes it is hard to remember some things haven't happened yet." She took a deep breath, "Alright, from the beginning then. I have had many dreams concerning you, concerning the future of the entire Underground. The dreams always start the same, but they each end differently. All begin with a little child coming into the Labyrinth and it takes a hold of her with magic…" Cestral closed her eyes with the memory, "Every time I think it might kill her-she was too little to take what it forced into her. And it has happened, that is why everything Underground shook. But the girl did not die, Malora told us that much at council."

Jareth nodded, "I touched her. It was my magic that invaded her…"

"No, that's not what I have seen." Cestral brought her eyes confidently to meet Jareth's, "It was the Labyrinth's magic. The child is its chosen liberator. The Labyrinth wants her to be your undoing."

Jareth's eyes widened, "It has resisted me since the child left; it did not want the child to transform…so she could defeat me." He growled the last words hatefully.

Cestral placed her hand on Jareth's knee, "Don't be angry at her. She couldn't possibly know what it is she has been given through you."

"Through me?"

"Yes. You did bind yourself to the Labyrinth-it is part of you, and you part of it. Only through your touch could it reach the child, thus it was through you it was done."

"Why does Malora insist on my bedding this child if she is to be my destroyer?"

"It isn't that she's insisting, Jareth, it's just what happens. I have seen the girl here with you, older of course, but definitely with child-your queen. You have to understand, I don't see everything, and I often see different versions of the same path. The future isn't certain. But one thing has never changed in all that I have seen. You love this girl and have a son by her."

Jareth looked away from her. He didn't want to believe it, "Does she destroy me?"

"I have not seen much past your child's birth," Cestral breathed out, "Nothing that indicates your destruction, anyway."

"How convenient." Jareth snarled.

Cestral moved closer to him, "Jareth, I think you are looking at this…no, I've probably told it the wrong way. You hate her before you even let yourself love her."

"Love her?"

"Yes. How else do you think you are going to get an heir? Unless you think you can just swoop down into the girl's life, take her by force and leave her to bear a child alone. I know you wouldn't do that." She moved the glass to her lips, but before she drank, she said, "You're not that cruel."

Jareth pushed himself back into the couch, trying to rub out the ache in his brow from furrowing so much. "Why are you telling me this? Right now, I want to stay as far way from the child as possible, for as long as possible." He looked at Cestral dangerously; "I could take the girl's life right now and be rid of the threat. I will not be dethroned."

"But Fate is Fate." Cestral smiled, not intimidated by her friend, though she knew he was entirely serious. But she also knew her dreams and the strong bond that would form between the mortal girl and the Goblin King. "I never said you were dethroned. I said the Labyrinth will be free of you. You simply will no longer control it. You'll still have everything else."

Jareth rolled his eyes at her. She sounded as though that was so much better than loosing his magic. In a way, it was. If the Labyrinth only wanted free will and not his complete destruction, he could accept that. However, he couldn't be sure, no matter what Cestral said the future definitely held. And little Sarah was caught in the middle of it all, unaware of how prominent she was.

"You are certain this child is to be my bride?"

"Very." Cestral answered confidently, "If your course of action does not interfere with such a future."

"A labyrinth of time and choices," Jareth sighed, relaxing a bit, "What is my first step?"

"Not harming the girl, for one," Cestral laughed. "The Empress said you will send the child to my father to grow and learn our ways."

"Yes, well. Malora's word isn't final. If I retrieve the girl, my choice of guardian will not be Tsojin."

"The Empress will insist." Cestral urged.

Her tone reminded Jareth of how fervent their ruler had been, "Why does Malora fear this girl?"

Cestral looked away, "I have had a few dreams of this same girl rule…rule over us all. Malora fears to be usurped."

"A human child govern the Underground?" Jareth chucked, "The child was intelligent, but her soul had no ambition to rule, I'm sure."

"I am not the only one to foresee Malora's removal," Cestral stated quickly, "I am only the one who has matched the face to the prophecy, one that is older than you or I."

Such knowledge had been around for ages and he had heard none of it before this day. "How long have you known the child is to be my queen?"

"Nearly three centuries, maybe more," Cestral shied back at Jareth's harsh gaze. She knew she should have told him sooner, before any of the signs occurred so he could prepare himself on how to take it. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't tell you. I didn't know it would take so many years before she actually came. It's been so long, and the dreams happen so often that they are starting to become memories." Cestral took his hand in her own, squeezing it. "And there are many events I would like to see come to pass for a friend who has always been kind to me."

He couldn't bear to look his friend in the eyes as he asked. "You really think I will love her?"

Cestral nodded. In her hand she formed a crystal of her own, which she gave to him, "Look at this, it will show you some of what is to come, so you can trust her. Let go of your hate before it destroys both of you." She gazed at him sadly, "I see two definite futures. Both full of hate, both full of love. You will each hurt the other dearly, but since you know it now, you can forgive her easier when it comes to pass."

Jareth looked concerned, not liking the sound of any of it. He looked at the crystal but couldn't bring himself to see what it held within, "What will she do?"

"You do something far worse to her, far worse than anything she could possibly do to you," the elf snapped, then eased her unusually harsh tone as she too gazed at the crystal, "If you choose that path."

Jareth looked back to his friend. "I might not do anything to her. The future is not yet set."

"It is fixed enough." Cestral stated gently.

So, Jareth was just supposed to accept that the Labyrinth would be out of his control one day, and that someday when she was grown, Sarah would give him a child. And he would love her? He could accept the fact that he wouldn't have to rule alone with a bride, but he couldn't fathom not ruling the Labyrinth. It had been dangerous before he bound it to himself; to unleash it again would do much harm. He would believe what he had to, but nothing was written in stone.

"What do your dreams say? Do I bring Sarah here to grow?"

Cestral shook her head, "She lives a human life."

Jareth breathed out, relieved to hear Sarah isn't raised under Malora's glare, "Then I will let her come to me in her own time."

"Is there anything else you want to know?" Cestral asked.

"Since you cannot tell me one set future, I suppose there is nothing else I can be told. Unless…I know nothing of Sarah, what her life will be on Earth, how it could change her. Her mother was vicious and self-righteous. Is she tainted by the woman?"

"Do you suddenly care for the girl?" Cestral knowingly smiled.

Jareth grinned slightly, perhaps the first time in his life he'd been shy. Apparently he couldn't hide much from one who had such foresight, "I have cared about Sarah's well being since I first met her."

Cestral nodded, "Then know this, my confession. I have known of the girl's coming for centuries and in that time, I wasn't so sure if she was worthy to be our Empress. Would my knowledge of a tyrant being placed on the throne be held against me? Would I be blamed if I knew she would be hated? So I looked into the future in different ways. Sometimes by my own magic, sometimes by human means-yes, there are some who still remember their ways." She added at Jareth's raised brow, "But what I saw fascinated me. Sarah will be very strong, just, and exceptionally wise from all she experiences in her life." Cestral looked away, unsure if she should say more, "She will receive more scars from you, from how you…"

"I will not cause her harm. She's had enough in her young life."

"Then be alone, Jareth. Stay away from her. Live forever in miserable solitude—sometimes the dreams show that too," Cestral chided, so unlike her gentle self. Then quietly, she added, "You decide your fate, I only retell it."

Jareth nodded. "If what you have said will come to pass, and since part of it already has, I know I cannot just leave things to themselves. I have to somehow protect Sarah, keep her away as long as I can. All this was forced onto the girl's life because the Labyrinth wants its freedom. And if the others know…"

"You are the only one I have told this to." Cestral's eyes went wide with worry, "If they knew that the Labyrinth was not fully under your control, do you know what they would do to her? Do to you?"

"I could hardly care what they'd do to me. It's Sarah I'm concerned for. Malora is a jealous woman. She knows already she will leave the throne; what if she attempts to destroy Sarah?"

"If she does, it will be after your child is given." Cestral held up her hand to stop Jareth from questioning her further, "There's more to explain, I know, but now is not the time. It may be decades before you even have a child. We can save that matter until later."

Jareth nodded in agreement, though reluctantly. There had already been too much to learn at once; to add more future possibilities to the mesh-he'd rather just let it wait. He rose from the couch, "I'll go then."

Cestral rose with him, placing a soft hand to his that held the crystal, "Look at what it shows you. Let it guide you in your course."

Jareth flew off with more questions on his mind, even though he'd gotten all the answers he needed. Now all he had to do was decide what he would do. Decide, hell, he might as well lie in his room for the next twenty years and see if Fate truly did have its hand on his life. Since the others didn't know anything of Sarah other than she was to one day be his bride and possibly rule the Underground, he was in no hurry to take a course of action. None of them could bring the child Underground; only he could retrieve her. It would be better for Sarah to come back to him on her own. Then again, if he did nothing and she didn't come, would his life be miserable solitude like Cestral said? Hadn't he started that very morning questioning his existence? This prophecy gave him direction. Perhaps it was because Sarah was presently a child that he could not see a future with her. But Cestral's orb would reveal what the future might be.

Jareth couldn't imagine that he would be able to concentrate on what the crystal would show him if he gazed into it amongst the rabble of his throne room. Instead, he flew through his bedroom window and landed gracefully inside. The room was pitch dark, save for the spot of sunlight that hovered on the edge of his bed. Like everything else in the room, the sheets were black. He remained at the window, sitting on the ledge, one leg dangling over the side.

His heart pounding heavily. He wasn't afraid of many things but he was afraid of looking into this orb and seeing what the future held for him. It could hold a view of his destruction-since the Labyrinth desired to be free of him. Or it could hold the greatest love he would ever know, as Cestral believed he would find. He was no coward, so with one deep breath, he looked inside.

At first everything went by in rapid flashes, scenes of himself with who must have been Sarah, for she looked much like Linda Williams. But he couldn't understand anything he was seeing for it would only last seconds before it would change to a different situation. What had Cestral been intending; to tease him with glimpses he couldn't comprehend? She had never been spiteful before, so there had to be something he was supposed to do to control the progression. He concentrated on slowing the images down. Once he found his pace, he was able to stop the images at will, holding them to one scene.

The vision he was able to stop on first was rather plain. It was an image of himself sitting in his own bedroom-if he gazed away from the crystal right then he would have been able to see the very same armchair his person was sitting on within the vision. But he did find it strange to hear himself reading aloud. He had never been one for books and the one he was reading would not be one he would choose for himself.

He listened as his own voice, read aloud the juvenile words. "Little boy blue, come blow your horn. The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn. But where is the boy who looks after the sheep? He's under the haystack, fast asleep. Will you wake him? No, not I-for if I do, he's sure to cry."

As he listened to himself, the view switched to the front of the chair. Jareth raised his brow in surprise, for there was a boy on his lap- a spitting image of himself. The child was drowsy and laid his head against his father's shoulder, though he was obviously fighting to keep his mismatched eyes on the books pages.

Jareth was a little unnerved that this was the first dream he was able to focus on. It held nothing that told him of what to do about Sarah, it only showed this would happen. That he had a child was unimportant; but the second he thought that, he knew he would regret it-it seemed as though he would love his son one day if he tolerated reciting aloud such a horrendous nursery rhyme. But his disappointment was unjustified, for a moment later he saw Sarah enter the room.

She was beautiful, more so than her mother. Her presence held a kindness and regality her mother could never possess. Sarah's hazel eyes sparkled in the fire light and the shadows played against her features as she rested her head on her arms as she leaned against the back of the armchair, just listening. Her black hair fell softly against her cheek as she closed her eyes a moment to listen, but a moment later she reached a hand over the armchair and started stroking his hair. He saw his image-self grin at her touch but continue on with the story. When this rhyme ended, father lifted a limp son into his arms.

"Is he asleep?" Sarah whispered, her voice soft and joyful. His self nodded, and Sarah laughed quietly, "That's good, because this one's not." She then rested her hand on her swollen belly.

Jareth nearly laughed out loud to know that he wouldn't just father one but two, maybe more. He watched as the couple walked to a room that Jareth didn't recognize in his castle-it must have been created for the boy. They tucked the child into the small bed, then strolled down more corridors Jareth didn't recognize, eventually stopping in the kitchen. And he, the Goblin King who had never cooked his entire life, fixed a sandwich for his pregnant wife. How curious.

The scene in the crystal changed to one of himself and Sarah, she perhaps five years younger than in the dream before, but Sarah here was obviously not happy with her king. She was staring at him, fire gleaming in her eyes, but not exactly with hatred. Jareth saw himself to be sitting on the throne, an infant in his lap, which he handed to a goblin, apparently so that he might discuss Sarah's anger. But she ran off before he could stop her. He ran after her and caught her in the Goblin City, near the dwarf fountain. She stood there silently, unable to look him in the eyes, but her tears gave away her anger.

"Look at me." Jareth heard himself say, and when Sarah refused, he watched as he took his hand and made her-only forceful because she resisted.

"What are you going to say?" Sarah sobbed, "That you had no choice, that it's what you have always done? I told the goblins not to take anymore!"

"And you do not control them." Jareth stated.

"I did when I told them. Did they not tell you?" She asked-and he averted his eyes only for barley an instant and she knew they had, "They did…and you took the baby against my will…"

Jareth saw his self let go of her and head back to the castle, pointing his finger at her as he went; "You have no say in this, Sarah."

"No say?" She rushed after him and tried to pull him to a stop. "If I am going to live here the rest of my life, I am damn well going to say something."

He stopped and said closely to her face, "What then? I told you my reasoning for taking those wished away and you did not condemn me then, so what do you have to say?"

Jareth wondered what they were talking about and was surprised to see Sarah easily backed down. She had seemed so fervent before, but now she looked impish. He must have been in the right for this situation.

"I'm sorry." She said softly, "It was just unexpected. With the Labyrinth not being well, I didn't think anyone should go through it. I didn't make anyone go through it when I was called."

Both his present and future selves were astonished, but the one in the crystal voiced, "Someone called on you?"

She nodded, "Before I brought you back. I hadn't even been here ten minutes and the goblins brought me a baby. I thought of what you had me do, so I went to the mother. She knew me by title because of her copy of the book." Then Sarah scrunched up her face in remembrance, "She wasn't sure if she wanted her baby…and I got mad at her. I was going to put her in the Labyrinth out of spite…"

He grinned, "Now you know how I felt with you."

Sarah snapped her head up, "You hated me?"

"At the time," he nodded while stepping into her, wrapping his arms around her to pull her body against his, "but not anymore."

Jareth raised his eyes in wonder at how physical he turned out to be…of course he knew his son would have to come from somewhere, but he honestly didn't think he had it in him. He watched as he was just about to kiss her when the faint cry of someone in need floated across the Labyrinth and Sarah turned towards it, "Is that her?"

He nodded, "She has ten hours left. She hasn't fared too poorly."

"Is she safe in the Labyrinth?" Sarah asked with concern.

Jareth shrugged, "It's navigable. I flew over it this morning. It seems to have returned to its permissible state."

Sarah smiled at him fully, "It's incredible what you can do. What I'd give to fly over this land."

"You are still learning your magic. Who knows what we will find you can do," then he leaned into her with a wicked grin, "I know another way you can fly."

Jareth rolled his eyes at his future self for being so banal, but Sarah seemed to take to the line well. She didn't push him away, not even when he forced his tongue into her mouth. In fact, that action seemed to spur her further. Jareth wasn't sure how far she would allow his self to ravage her, and he might have switched to a different dream if it hadn't have been for Sarah's sudden collapse. He saw himself catch her but his expression proved he had no clue to what was attacking her. She held to his body, eyes squeezed shut from pain. Suddenly they were both in a different part of the Labyrinth. Which one had teleported them there, Jareth couldn't tell, but it was Sarah who moved away, touching her hands to the walls of the Labyrinth. There was another woman with them too, frightened by their sudden appearance-the wisher, Jareth demised from the way they had been talking before.

His focus went back on Sarah when she spoke, "Jareth, I can't stop it. It won't listen to me."

The wisher was babbling about dieing, that it had been futile to try and save her baby. It grated on his ears.

"Cease your prattle women." Jareth commanded her, causing his present self to agree. Then to Sarah, he said, "It never disobeyed me. It's turned."

Then Sarah said something Jareth currently didn't understand, because he had yet to say anything of the sort to her, "Jareth, use me. You've said it forever, it is your Labyrinth. Speak to it through me. Use my magic."

Jareth watched his future self try to make a decision. Even without knowing the exact circumstances of this future, he knew she was asking him to make her a slave to his magic. He didn't even know how a mortal could have gotten magic since they weren't yet wed. If they had been, he would have been able to see the same aura between them, which was not present. For him to use her magic they would virtually have to bond their souls-something that could never be broken. Such rituals were against Fae law without permission and he was certain they did not have consent. He didn't know who he would be, what he would choose, but right now, as his present self, he would have denied her request and found some other solution. But his future self didn't seem to agree.

He kept urgency out of his voice and asked gently. "Sarah, do you love me?"

"Forever."

Jareth watched as he gently turned her around so she didn't face him. Then he placed his right hand over her heart and his left on her forehead. But before he started the ritual that would bind them, he feathered a kiss on her neck whispering, "I love you." He started whispering an encantation that would begin their joining. Sarah's body went ridged at the initial bonding of their magics, but soon she relaxed and didn't fight it. Jareth watched his yellow power invade her blue…no, not invade but conjoin for she figured out she could help him. Once there was nothing left of their individual souls, still holding Sarah to him, Jareth removed his hand from her head, commanding the wall opposite them to move back. It fought him only momentarily before it complied. Only one wall need be moved to free them from the trap. The other walls he commanded to remain motionless.

When this was done, Jareth finally understood what was happening. The Labyrinth had chosen to be rid of him, only to have the power given to Sarah, who it thought it could control. It probably never intended for Sarah and himself to join in love and in power. Its plan backfired in this future. But apparently there was more to see of this vision, for it continued.

The wisher, seeing that the Labyrinth no longer moved, gave a sigh of relief before sobbing and running out. But once safe, she turned to them. Her eyes said she wanted to yell at them, blame them for trying to kill her, but she wisely remained silent.

Sarah looked across to her but said quietly to Jareth,"Does she still have to do this if the Labyrinth is dangerous?"

"As long as it obeys me, I don't see why not. I'm not yet convinced that she realizes what she was wished was wrong." He said lowly, "How can we give the child back if we are not sure?"

Sarah leaned against him, "You said 'we.' Does that mean you're going to let me help decide?"

Jareth heard himself say something he would always believe, "I'll take your suggestions into account, but my word is final."

Sarah nodded but pulled away. Apparently she did not agree with him. She wandered over to stand before the wisher, her steps planned and threatening letting the woman know she was not finished yet.

"Are you the Mistress of the Labyrinth?" the woman asked.

Sarah raised her brow at the title the woman gave her, yet said confidently, "I am. Do you still want to reach your son?"

The woman laughed, "If it doesn't kill me."

"Do not fear for your life," Sarah told her. "This was…just a test."

The woman looked at Sarah knowingly, "You were scared."

"And you," Jareth heard himself say in anger, walking up with Sarah, "have only eight hours and thirty six minutes left. Shouldn't you get going?"

"What about my safety?" The woman pressed.

Sarah smiled slyly, "Nothing comes for free. You want your safety, it will cost you time."

The woman reluctantly agreed to loose two hours.

Jareth smiled as the image in the crystal changed, pleased that Sarah would understand how his methods worked, that she learned his trade. That proved to him she truly was meant to be his queen. He loved her just with that thought. But his contentment with the revelation was short lived.

The next image Jareth stopped at filled his mind with confusion. This certainly was a different future, for Sarah was even younger than in the previous vision, maybe just out of her child years. In the last vision, he had not been joined with her. But here, in this future, he was in her bed, making love to her. What the hell would lead him to do that with her when she was so young? He heard Sarah scream out in pain and saw in disgust that it was because his future-self had slit a wound into her neck with his pendant and attacked the wound with his mouth, drinking the blood that flowed from her. Jareth was about to rip his eyes away from the crystal, to stop the knowledge that he might one day kill Sarah in a horrible act when he saw his image leap out of the bed. Jareth wanted to know what had made him stop.

Sarah was afraid and confused, but her courage struck him. Her words showed she wasn't some naive little girl he'd taken forcefully to bed; she knew what they had been doing. Who ever he turns out to be in this future led her to believe it was their marriage bed. He heard himself tell Sarah his violence was only due to her theft of his magic. But Jareth could see in her eyes she honestly knew nothing if it were true; but his future self wouldn't believe it. Listening further, though, Sarah knew enough magic to forever curse him. At her wish, he saw the magic leave his body and how crushed he was for her to have cursed him like that. Further, she cursed him to never know her, and it too was a wish fulfilled, for he transformed into the owl and left.

Why would Cestral want him to know this? What could it possibly do but make him hate Sarah and hate himself? God, he loved the girl already from just her bravery, but her powerful words in this future sould destroy him.

He wanted to move on to another vision, to find something that would provide some redemption, some salvation in his relationship with Sarah, but the crystal wouldn't let him. Instead, it burned a bright white fire within its depths, blinding Jareth's sight. With the light came a piercing shriek, something he had never heard before; almost like a bell but bells don't ring straight noise. Jareth lowered himself to the stone floor, afraid he might loose balance and fall out the window if he remained there. He dropped the crystal and it rolled away. Once out of his hand, the noise stopped. However, a great dizzying headache remained. He leaned his head against the wall, willing the pain to subside.

Jareth opened his eyes and wondered how he came to be on the floor. His head hurt, but he didn't remember hitting it on anything. All he remembered was he had left Cestral, she had given him a crystal. He rose, holding on to the wall for support, as he felt was very lightheaded from the movement.

Jareth was disoriented, still unable to think clearly, but he knew enough to form a crystal and call on Cestral, "What have you done?"

Cestral appeared within and looked sadly at him, "What do you remember?"

He placed his other hand to his head, putting pressure so the headache would subside, "I don't…Sarah. It had to do with Sarah."

"Yes," Cestral answered, "anything else?"

His eyes were still blurry, the ache too great for him to think, "Cestral, damn it! What did you do?"

The elf nodded her head in agreement with only herself, "I did what I thought best. I let you see your future but also placed a spell in that crystal so you wouldn't remember what it showed you, but only if you chose to watch one moment with Sarah to the end. You must have or you would be able to remember everything you saw."

"Why keep it from me?"

"Why? Because if you knew, you would change things that are supposed to happen and that's not what prophecies are for. They are to show us what will be, and though different choices lead to different outcomes, Fate is Fate, no matter how painful it may be. Change one event and you can destroy a whole intended time line. It's not just your life it will be effecting, so I didn't want you to remember."

"But why do I feel like I remember? Like I hate…?" He turned his head and looked away, unable to confess it.

"You hate Sarah." Cestral answered sorrowfully.

"No, I hate myself."

"And Sarah, what do you feel for her?"

Jareth searched his soul for that answer, for his mind could not summon it, "Does love also hurt?"

"Yes, it can at times." Cestral grinned, "Do you believe me now, that you can love this girl?"

"I don't know, since I can't remember." Jareth chided.

"Then create new memories."

"How can I do that when she isn't here?"

"Watch her, but do it from afar. I am quite certain she will come to you. That was something all of the visions showed"

"When? If it is too long…many humans have journeyed my kingdom, but I know many did not believe in magic when they left. They probably remember it solely as a dream. If she comes too late, will she be able to accept magic, become one with it?"

"I suggest that you send her reminders. Make her believe magic is real, even though it does not last in her world." Cestral brushed her brown hair behind her shoulder, a distraction from her thoughts on what to say. "Start now, she will be ready when she comes."

"Thank you." Jareth smiled to his friend, then raised a challenging brow to her, "But do not think I will forget you erased knowledge from me."

* * *

It had been days since Linda had been home with Sarah and she still wondered why the child had been returned to her. She knew that she had meant the wish when she had said it and knew that she in no way could ever love Sarah enough to pay for what she had selfishly wanted. Now Linda wanted to make it up to Sarah, to be the mother she had yet to become-but she knew she wasn't strong enough to change everything, especially not her feelings towards her husband.

After their argument the night Sarah was wished away, Robert changed, became silent. He used to take an interest in everything Linda did, but he hadn't even asked her if she'd heard back yet about her audition. He was merely civil with her. It was as if he knew that when Linda played with or fed Sarah, she was only mimicking the role of 'mother' and not really putting her heart into it. To Linda, it was a role, but only because she believed that if she acted it out enough, she would naturally and willingly begin doing it. Try as she might, though, she was pointlessly exhausting herself.

It was storming outside, an unusual storm for August, and Linda wasn't enjoying it. Not only had the cable television gone out but Sarah had been spooked by the storm. Robert called to say he had gotten stuck twenty miles away with a flat tire, so again it was up to Linda to comfort the child. But nothing she tried would calm Sarah so Linda left her to cry herself to sleep.

To keep from being bored-and from listening to Sarah's persistent wailing-Linda went to the kitchen and blared the radio as she started to empty the dishwasher. The radio suddenly went dead and she felt something solid bump into her foot. She stared down in dread at a round crystal that could only have come from one person. Linda watched as it rolled away a distance and then paused until she figured she was supposed to follow. It glided up to Sarah's room, where Linda found the child asleep, laying on the chest of the Goblin King.

"What are you doing here?" Linda asked in a forced whisper.

The Goblin King lay Sarah's little body down with care before turning on the bed, blasting a cold gaze at Linda, "I don't know why I let you keep her. You left her in here alone."

"Because she wouldn't shut up. I tried to see what she wanted..."

"She wants comfort, but obviously that is too hard for you to give."

"Hey, I tried, alright? Is it my fault she's afraid of the storm?" Linda yelled down at him, tired of being blamed by someone who knew nothing about her.

"She isn't afraid of the storm, she's in pain." He spat the words at Linda, but then turned a soft gaze down at Sarah, brushing the side of her face with a gloved hand, "I could only heal her so much before; I only knew of the fever then." He turned his hot eyes back on Linda, "You should have had her to a physician by now."

"Robert did. She's on medication. But, she hasn't had a fever in days. How can she still be hurting?"

"The air change brought with the storm hurt her ears, but she shouldn't feel it now."

A moment later, when the Goblin King had returned his gaze to her daughter, Linda asked, "Why are you here?"

Jareth rose from Sarah's side, making sure the tattered teddy bear was tucked snugly against her, and then indicated for Linda to exit the room. She followed him the short distance to the living room and sat rigidly on the couch. He remained standing.

"So?" Linda prompted when he looked as though he couldn't find the words.

Jareth wasn't sure what he was going to say. He had only come to check on Sarah but found her crying, again being ignored by her mother. He held her in his harms and made the pain disperse, humming her to sleep. She trusted him so easily even though she probably didn't remember him. He didn't want her to forget him, ever. And believing her to be mistreated only solidified his decision, "I've come for Sarah."

Linda's heart panicked. She was trying to be a mother, she needed more time, "No, you can't! You just gave her back."

"Which is proving to be a mistake." Jareth growled.

"Why now? Why didn't you come for her days ago?"

"Because I didn't know who she was until now."

"Who she was? What do you mean?"

Jareth looked straight into Linda's eyes, "She is to be my wife."

Linda had to stop herself from laughing, "She's only three years old."

"Of course we would not wed now. I'm merely going to take her to..."

"You're not taking her anywhere, got that!" Linda shouted, "She is my daughter and I'm not going to just let you take her, like she has no choice in this. You have no right."

"It is my right. She is mine. You gave her up to me." He hissed, "I gave her back only to prevent her from becoming a goblin."

"Why, huh? Isn't it your job to make goblins? What's so special about Sarah that you saved her then if you 'just' found out about her?"

Jareth looked off in thought, "I suppose I knew I loved her."

"Love-for a three year old?" Linda huffed.

"Mrs. Williams, in my world we live for nearly an eternity. We are taught not to judge with our eyes but with our hearts." He knew he had to find a better way to explain it to her, "When you were in the Labyrinth, did you feel the earth shake?"

"Yeah, there was an earthquake, so?"

"That quake was caused by Sarah."

"How?"

"Somehow, through me, the Labyrinth connected to her."

"Why? What does it want with her?"

Jareth smiled sadly, remembering the reason, but he needn't tell her that. He only had to tell her what he knew to be official, "All I know is this was foretold long ago, a child of Earth would shake the foundations of the Underground and that child would give the ruler of that land a son..."

Linda stood and glared at him, "So you're totally assuming Sarah is to give you a son?"

"It is no assumption."

"Do you know where you will be in a few years? Are you so sure you'll still be king when Sarah's ready?"

"Quite certain." He looked down on her, "You aren't going to be able to talk her fate away. She will come with me, whether you want it or not."

"So what? Why take Sarah now? She wouldn't be able to even have kids for another fifteen years at least."

"Do you think I'd want her living that long where she was unhappy because she isn't loved." Jareth asked coolly.

"I do love her. I try, but you can't tell me you can do better with her. Look at where you live. Well, I mean, I didn't see your actual home, but everything else was so...weird."

She was right. Sarah was destined to be raised on Earth, despite his opinion. Jareth sighed, "What do you propose?"

"Let her stay here with what she's used to."

"If she doesn't come with me now...your world has no magic and the longer she stays, the harder it will be for her to accept what I will ask of her. I do not want to be forgotten."

"I wont let her forget. I promise I can do that." Linda sighed, not looking away, "She needs to know, so she can be happy."

It surprised him at how genuinely Linda stated her words. She truly didn't want Sarah to leave her. Maybe the woman had changed after all.

"Give her this." Jareth conjured a ring from a crystal, "Let her know it is from me."

Linda took the delicate ring, unable to tell if the stone were garnet or amethyst. The band was astounding; the intricate pattern on its band was of a maze. How such delicate work was possible in a ring amazed Linda. But the meaning behind the symbol surprised her more, "A promise ring. I can't give it to her now-she'd never understand."

"Then someday, when you think she will." Jareth said before he silently turned to walk out. Best leave now before he changed his mind.

Linda looked at his fleeting form, "So that's it? You're just leaving?"

Jareth turned back to her, "That is what you want, is it not? I'll be watching you, and if I can't, my goblins will. If it is deemed Sarah is unhappy or mistreated, I will take her. Otherwise, she will come to me when she is ready, or I will come for her when I deem it. Don't let her forget."

Linda nodded and he faded away.

Though Linda had her flaws, she actually did keep her end of the bargain. She never let Sarah forget the Labyrinth. If she saw something that resembled a creature she had encountered in the Labyrinth, she would give it to Sarah…like the bookends she found at some antique store that greatly resembled the dwarf Hoggle. And when she couldn't find something she thought Sarah should see, like the monster Ludo and the strange Firey creatures, she had them hand made into dolls for Sarah to play with. Linda never did promise the Goblin King she would tell her daughter the Labyrinth was a real place, she merely agreed to keep it always near Sarah's heart.

As for telling Sarah she was betrothed to a king from some fairy tale land, Linda just couldn't bring herself to do it. Not that she didn't want to be true to her word, it was just so hard for even her to believe. Something in the way Jareth had looked at Sarah-Linda knew he loved her. His eyes held a love for Sarah that Robert never shared with her. Jareth had a true love built on faith, not like Linda's that was balanced on appearance and shared experience. Jareth knew nothing of Sarah but that he was to love her. He had no idea how Sarah would grow or what she would think of him and his world. He trusted that she would love him back. Linda didn't want to ruin that for him or for Sarah. Her daughter was lucky to have a love waiting. But it was just too soon for her to say anything to Sarah. Not that she didn't give the girl the ring; she did that when Sarah was eight because after five years of trying to stay, she had finally had enough of Robert. She gave Sarah the ring then because she didn't know if she would be back to give it to Sarah properly when she was of age.

So though Sarah grew up loving the creatures of the Labyrinth, she thought the gifts dearest to her heart were merely from a mother who sometimes loved her, not knowing they were inspired by a king who forever would.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you thought "All for the Best" was the last chapter. Well, for those of you who wanted more…here it is! Then again, I hope you aren't disappointed with this final chapter. Just remember that the movie is the next time that Jareth and Sarah meet after this story ends…and maybe a few of the things here will explain why he treats her the way he does when she wishes Toby away. AND, just because this is the last chapter doesn't mean I don't want feedback. Tell me if you think it's corny or doesn't make sense; the more reviews I get here, the more I know if my writing style is working for my stories. I hope after this you will switch to reading my other story, "The Thief, The King, and The Son," which is a sequel to the movie, if you haven't already started reading it. Thanks again a million fold. Sorry for being long winded.
> 
> Final Author's Note:
> 
> Thank you so much to all of you who have reviewed; keeps my Muse excited.
> 
> If you have any further questions, comments, or suggestions on changes in "LW" or "TKS" feel free to message me.


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